Distant Evil
by Torchie1
Summary: After a barely won battle with The Dark Master's army's first attack in over a year, Warfang's walls are in ruins, leaving the city open for another attack. To save their world, Spyro and his friends have to travel to new terrain and overcome new challenges, but, the purple dragon would have to beware, the darkness that covers his friends...
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone, long time no see! Sorry for the wait, this came hard for me with all the distractions around me. This story is a sequel to my previous story 'The Forgotten Past', if you haven't read it already, I would read it first because there a some confusing events. ;) Anyway enjoy the story.**

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><p>Flare boredly sighed as he stared at the ground blankly of large cave he was in. The deathly silence didn't help the red dragon's mood much as he tapped his tail on the ground impatiently, filling the air with a clicking sound. Only at the age of ten, the crimson red dragon found sitting still a very hard thing to do. After a few more minutes of impatiently waiting, the red dragon suddenly just stood and stared directly at the other dragon beside him, a dark blue one.<p>

"Cavice, I don't even know why we're the bait for this stupid plan!" he grumbled impatiently.

The blue dragon raised an eye brow. "It _was_ your idea you know, I just tagged along," he replied, the beginnings of an amused smirk spreading across his muzzle.

Flare glared at the blue dragon in reply. "Yeah, but I didn't know Cynder was going to take over a week to return." The red dragon quickly turned away and kicked a nearby pebble boredly. "Where is Valie and Saber anyway?"

Cavice only gave a slight shrug. "I don't know, last time I saw them was before we entered this hostage room."

Flare sighed and quickly looked around the room. To the young dragon this was his and his other siblings' home ever since Cynder had managed to capture them a few weeks ago. At first the red dragon found the place to be the most horrifying place on the planet, from the first looks of the old, damaged stone walls it made Flare get the shivers. Much to the red dragon's surprise a few seconds before he woke up, he found Cynder, the large black dragoness was easily twice his height so it made the red dragon afraid of her from the first sight, not to mention all the horrible rumors he was hearing about the black dragoness that stood before him. That was when she explained that her master needed them alive, the reason, Flare still didn't know.

"Hello? Flare?"

The red dragon quickly turned to the blue dragon next to him who called his name. "Yeah?"

Cavice rolled his eyes. "Flare you've got to stop zoning out like that, if I wasn't your brother and if I didn't know you so well, I'd think that you'd be plotting some sort of world domination."

Flare smiled in return, the thought actually made the red dragon chuckle. _Good thing Cavice here knows me so well that he knows how to make me laugh_, the red dragon thought.

Slightly happy that he somehow amused his younger brother, Cavice turned back to the only entrance and exit to the room. "So how long do you think until Cynder returns so we can set this trap in motion?"

Flare shrugged in reply. "I dunno but I still don't like the plan to kill her," he stated boredly.

Cavice rolled his eyes again. "Of course you don't, you hate to kill anything," the blue dragon exclaimed.

"Unless it attacks first or is ugly," Flare added, quickly changing his gaze to the ground in front of him.

Cavice raised a brow. "You don't think Cynder is ugly, boy do you have some serious issues Flare."

Flare quickly glanced at his brother before looking at the ground again. "You know if Cynder heard you, you'd be soooooo dead by now."

Cavice smiled and gave a slight nod of his head. "Oh yeah, if she survived."

Flare turned back to his brother again, eyes narrowing by the second. "What are you getting at?"

Cavice rolled his eyes again, making Flare far more irritated. "Flare I swear you're dumber then you look, which is also dumb."

A snarl gathered at the back of the red dragon's throat, teeth gnashing as he stared at his elder brother who was surprisingly calm.

Oblivious to his younger brother's growing anger, Cavice continued. "Cynder said before she left that it had something to do with an earth guardian, a purple dragon and the volcano Boyzitbig. The answer is obvious, Cynder met the purple dragon at Boyzitbig, the two faced off and the purple dragon won."

Flare stared at his brother blankly as the anger he once felt slowly fell. "Are you sure that's correct?" the red dragon asked, a slow suspicion creeping into his mind.

Cavice sighed. "Of course I'm sure, can you figure out any other reason why Cynder hasn't returned yet."

Slowly, Flare shook his head. "I guess not," he replied dully. Even though he couldn't find a good reason, the red dragon knew that somewhere, someplace, Cynder was still alive.

Cavice smiled in reply and stood up next to his younger brother. "Great, now let's get Valie and Saber and tell them this. Any ideas where they are?"

Flare shook his head again, making Cavice sigh again.

"Well I guess we're looking everywhere," the blue dragon stated tiredly as he turned towards the exit of the room and walked out with Flare hard on his tail.

The two dragons' search seemed to take hours as they checked each cell for their other siblings. Most of the times they came across other hostage dragons, that were probably simply awaiting their death by Cynder's forces. After the fourth time when they came across another dragon, Flare couldn't take it anymore.

"Uh why don't we just free these dragons and get away with it?" the red dragon quickly turned to Cavice next to him. "I mean seriously, Cynder isn't here so what's stopping us?" he gestured with a paw to the dragon inside the cell to show his point.

Cavice stared blankly at the elder dragon, hardly even blinking before suddenly sighing. "Ok fine, you free all these dragons while I keep on searching for Valie and Saber." With that, the blue dragon quickly whipped around and ran off.

With a dejected sigh, Flare quickly turned to the dragon inside the cell before silently walking closer to the cell and studying it. The dragon was a bright green and had a brown underbelly and wing membranes, instantly proving to Flare that it was an earth dragon. The red dragon continued to look the dragon over, before suddenly noticing its paws were cuffed to the ground, restricting any kind of movement. Flare scowled in slight sympathy as he also figured out that the dragon's mouth was also cuffed.

As Flare approached, the earth dragon didn't even look at him and was just staring into space with not much as word. Feeling slightly dejected, Flare decided a different way to get the other dragon's attention.

"Hey," he called quietly, secretly hoping the dragon was one of the nice, not stubborn types. The earth dragon's eyes turned to him sadly but he didn't even move his head. Flare's eyes widened at the amount sadness that were in those eyes, he could actually feel the sadness that seemed to radiate off the earth dragon.

Suddenly noticing the awkward silence Flare decided to speak again. "Uh hey, I'm here to get you out of here," he stated quite shyly.

Flare instantly saw the dragon's eyes widen, in surprise or shock, Flare would never know. The red dragon silently stepped up to the cell, almost instantly noticing that it had a lock on it with a key hole.

"Typical," he stated quietly, more to himself than the dragon he was freeing. "I bet the guard ape around here would have the key to this stupid lock."

As if on cue, the red dragon instantly picked up the dirty scent of an up in the air, after turning around to the captive dragon and telling him to wait, the red dragon ran to a hiding place so he can ambush the poor ape.

As the scent got closer, the red dragon readied his tail blade for a short swift kill. When the ape got into sight, Flare launched himself at the poor barbaric creature and knocked it over, before jumping to his feet while the ape was dazed and ending its life instantly with a tail blade to its throat.

Slightly happy at his sudden success, the red dragon began to search the disgusting creature for the keys. It only took Flare a second to realize that the beast was holding it in its boney hand. As swift as his kill, the red dragon quickly grabbed it and inserted it into the cell.

"Ah finally," he sighed as the cell opened with ease. Noticing that the earth dragon wanted to say something, the red dragon quickly inserted the key into the cuff over the dragon's muzzle.

As the cuff came off the earth dragon took a very deep breath, making Flare eager to know how long the cuff was over the green dragon's muzzle. But nonetheless the red dragon just shrugged as he continued to insert the key into the other cuffs.

"Thank you, young dragon," the earth dragon thanked after Flare inserted the key into the last cuff over his tail before standing up. His voice sounded like he in his prime. "I never thought I would be able to be free after Cynder captured me and my comrades during one of our scout missions."

Flare smiled in reply. "It alright, I was just passing here with my brother and decided to just start freeing other dragons I crossed." His expression then darkened, "unfortunately my brother didn't feel the same way," he added bluntly.

But the elder dragon just shook his head with a strangely happy smile. "No need to be so harsh on your brother young dragon, I'm sure he had his reasons."

Flare scowled. _Yeah, first is laziness and second is selfishness_, the red dragon thought as he thrust his head to behind him. "Also um…sir, can you help me with freeing the other hostage dragons in this place, I think it'd be easier being how you're so tall and all."

The earth dragon's smile grew wider. "Firstly young dragon please just call me Saflix, I prefer if the dragon that just saved me, wouldn't be so polite," the elder dragon continued to smile as he noticed a slight blush appear on Flare's face at his words. But the elder dragon's face turned serious a split second later. "But now to the matter at paw, yes I would help you gather more dragons, because if we can get over ten adult dragons we can form a group and battle our way out of here." The earth dragon gave a swift turn and began to walk down the corridor Flare just came down.

Flare stared in slight awe at the earth dragon as he followed him, before suddenly a question came to mind. "Um Saflix? Were you by any chance been named Captain Saflix back where you came from?" to the red dragon it seemed like a reasonable question, the speed he managed to put together the plan was remarkable to say the least.

The earth dragon glanced at the smaller dragon. "Oh no, back in Warfang I was trying my best to get the job but to no avail, another earth dragon got the position."

The two stopped at the next cell, this one held an adult fiery-red, fire dragon in it. The dragon immediately shot up at the sight of the two dragons, but like Saflix, he was heavily cuffed and couldn't move nor talk.

"Don't worry Blaze we'll get you out," Saflix stated before asking Flare for the keys.

The young red dragon nodded without hesitation and handed him the keys. _Blaze huh?_ He thought_. Looks like these two know each other._

Immediately after the cuff over Blaze's muzzle came off he did almost the same thing as Saflix and also took in a deep breath.

"Captain, I never thought I'd see you alive!" Blaze blurted out as soon as he got his breathing under control.

_Captain?_ Flare wondered in his head, raising a scaly eye brow at Saflix. He didn't like the idea of being lied at, even if the earth dragon was being modest.

Saflix waved a dismissive paw at both the dragons. "Blaze I thought I told you not to call me Captain, I was only the leader of our scout team."

Blaze sighed in return. "But you should've gotten the rank Saflix, everyone in Warfang knows that."

Saflix turned away before sighing as well. "Yes seems like everyone but the guardians," he began to walk to the next cell.

Blaze followed his leader, with Flare hard on his tail. "Saflix you know that Ignitus saw the true spark in you but was only outvoted by the other guardians."

_Ignitus? Who's he?_ Flare wondered as he trudged silently on the other side of Saflix. _I bet he's one of the four guardians._

The young red dragon continued to ponder what the four guardians were doing at this time as Saflix and Blaze continued to free dragons. After what seemed like days for the young red dragon, they had made a group of over fifteen adult dragons, each a warrior or scout. It made Flare slightly surprised when they never came across any kids his age, but nonetheless the red dragon trudged on wordlessly as each dragon in the group got to know each other in side conversations.

Suddenly a few minutes later a young blue dragon ran into the red dragon's view and almost tackled him into the ground as he crashed into the younger dragon with a hug.

"Where were you Flare!" Cavice mumbled as tears of relief ran down his muzzle and onto his startled younger brother. "We searched this whole damn place and we couldn't find you…y-you…idiot."

Flare took slight offence to being called an idiot but quickly forgave his brother when the blue dragon tightened his hug further, almost chocking Flare.

"I found Valie and Saber a few minutes after we parted ways, then we came back to see you weren't there and…and-"

"I'm fine Cavice," Flare interrupted, hugging his brother back. "You had nothing to worry about."

After a few seconds Cavice let go of his younger brother and sniffed a couple of times as an earth dragon and an electric dragoness came into Flare's view.

"Flare!" the yellow dragoness shouted before giving her youngest brother the same treatment Cavice gave him, if not tighter.

"Hi…Valie," Flare only could muttered those two words before he almost got chocked again. It took Valie twice as long to let go of Flare as it did for Cavice.

When Valie let go, Saber, the eldest sibling, stepped towards his youngest brother.

Flare braced himself slightly and closed his eyes; he knew that Saber wasn't really going to be happy about this. Suddenly he felt a leathery wing drape over his back, instantly Flare opened his eyes to see it was in fact Saber's wing. When his eldest brother pulled him in for a hug, it made Flare even more confused, Saber never acted like this.

The red dragon turned his gaze to the earth dragon's eyes, only to see them slightly wet. Then four words left the earth dragon's mouth, four words that Flare would never have thought in his wildest dream his eldest brother would ever say.

"I missed you, Flare."

Flare looked into Saber's eyes, he meant it. The red dragon felt a single tear leave his eyes before hugging his eldest brother back, as hard as he could.

"I missed you too Saber."

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The pitter-patter sound of rain stirred Flare in his sleep, the red dragon tossed and turned, somehow hoping the noise would just stop, when it didn't, he decided it was time to open his eyes. But to the red dragon's mild surprise he was in his room back in Warfang.

The red dragon quickly looked over his room to see if anything has changed. To his relief, the stain glass window that overlooked his room was still as perfect as it would ever be, with the pattern of Flare's egg surrounded in flames it truly was the red dragon's most prized possession. Along with Ignitus' old bookcase, a luxurious bed, a large mirror one of the civilians gave him as a gift and a new ruby red chest with his golden armor in it, that made his room.

"Hey, you're awake," a voice stated cheerfully.

Flare rolled his eyes; he didn't even have to look to know who that was, his voice was a dead giveaway. "Sparx, what are you doing here?" the red dragon asked as a yellow dragonfly flew into his view.

Sparx crossed his arms, crossly. "It that the way you greet your brother?"

Flare smiled in return. "I guess not," the red dragon turned to his stain glass window again.

Sparx followed his brother's gaze before rolling his eyes. "Do you have to keep looking at that window every few seconds?"

Flare gave the yellow dragonfly a quick glance but hardly took his eyes off his window. "Even you've got to admit Sparx that it looks awesome."

The yellow dragonfly sighed. "Yeah, yeah whatever, it's pretty, big deal."

Flare scowled at him slightly before turning his gaze back to the window. The two stared at the window in silence for a few seconds, when a question came to the red dragon's mind.

"Sparx, how long have I been out?" he asked tiredly, that sleep didn't seem to help much.

"Four or five days, I lost track," the dragonfly answered quite quickly.

The news was hardly surprising to the red dragon, he wouldn't have thought he would have been out for a day. Especially after all _that_ power swept over him, the red dragon hardly even knew what _that_ was.

With a sigh the red dragon rolled off his bed and landed on all fours heavily, immediately his legs almost gave way under him because of the lack of use of his muscles. After wobbling uncomfortably for a few seconds, the red dragon stood evenly with his legs having no trouble holding him up.

Flare quickly turned when he heard someone chuckling, he quickly found out it was Sparx and glared at the dragonfly.

"Sorry, that was just too funny," the dragonfly apologized quickly, halting his chuckling completely.

Flare rolled his eyes once again before walking over to his mirror and having a glance at himself. A crimson red dragon, with a flame shaped tail blade stared back at him. The red dragon immediately noticed the huge noticeable scar over his right eye, a reminder of his dark form and how he almost died because of it.

Hesitantly, Sparx flew to his larger, yet younger brother. "Anything wrong younger bro?"

Flare replied with a sigh before quickly turning away from the mirror and trudging over to his chest. Hesitantly he flung it open with ease and gazed at all the armor in it. After finding all his pieces of armor in the box he finally turned to Sparx.

"Sparx, where's the others?" he asked, knowing that he didn't need to explain who the others are.

Sparx hesitated for a few seconds. "They're in school still?"

After nodding as thanks, Flare turned away and began to trudge out of his door. _So the guardians started school again?_ He thought before suddenly a yellow dragonfly came into his vision and stopped right in front of him and held up a small hand to stop, surprised Flare stopped soon after.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Flare you're not thinking of actually going back into school are you?" he asked.

Flare stared blankly at the dragonfly for a few seconds, what did he mean? After a few seconds of silence, fighting a mini war in his head, the red dragon decided to straightforwardly ask the dragonfly. "What do you mean Sparx?"

The yellow dragonfly reacted as if he just got slapped. "What! Flare you're going back to _school?_"

Finally understanding what Sparx was trying to say, the red dragon nodded. "Oh yeah I'm sure I'd be able to get to class with a pretty good excuse, even Volteer's."

Sparx slammed a tiny hand to his face as the two caught sight of the outside rain. "No Flare, you could have a day off of school, don't you want that?"

Flare tapped his chin. "Well yeah, but I also want to see Spyro, Cynder and Cavice quickly."

"But they come by your room every time after school."

Flare's eyes widened. "Really?" when his dragonfly brother nodded the red dragon instantly took off into the rain, not caring how wet he was getting.

After a few minutes, the red dragon found himself in front of The Dragon Temple and also his school. At first it came as a surprise to the young dragon a few weeks ago, but like all things he got used to it after a few days. With a slightly hesitant step, the red dragon entered the large building. After quickly shaking the water droplets off, the red dragon took off running until he came to the three main halls.

Each hall led to a different area, the left one led to the cafeteria where the dragons go during their lunch breaks for lunch, Flare found the area quite enjoyable because he was considered polite there. The middle hall led to the actual classes, where Cyril teaches dragon history and flying lessons and also where Volteer teaches physics. The right hall was where Flare was headed.

The red dragon hastily turned the corner and almost crashed into another student in the process. After apologizing for almost ramming into them, he turned around and took in the scene. Spyro and Cynder both were teaching two blue dragons seemed to be too busy to notice the red dragon. Flare instantly noticed one of the dragons, before suddenly a mini plan came into the red dragon's mind as he grinned mischievously.

Flare crouched close to the ground and slowly made his way to the back of his purple brother and his mate. Still crouching, the red dragon took hatchling steps to the two dragons as they kept explaining to the two dragons what they were doing.

"-want both of you two to simply attack each other with only your ice breaths," Spyro explained, completely oblivious to the red dragon who was creeping behind him, waiting silently until the lesson actually got underway.

Flare watched the two ice dragons boringly shoot jets of frost at each other, each dodging the others with ease and counterattacking. The red dragon really didn't get the point on this drill, except maybe if the two teachers, Spyro and Cynder were trying to see how much the two blue dragons have improved.

Flare didn't even have to watch to see who was going to win it, the smaller more vibrant dark blue dragon showed the skills of a fine warrior, which –though Flare hated to admit it– was slightly better than the red dragon's. As the two continued to face off the red dragon thought this would be a good time to make his move.

Silently Flare crept up to Spyro while he kept his stern gaze on his two students, still hopefully oblivious to his youngest brother creeping up to him.

The purple dragon suddenly felt someone tap him on the shoulder. Through pure reflex the purple dragon whipped around and whacked at the object with his forepaw, instantly feeling it get parried as his eyes grew wide in surprise.

"Sheesh Spyro, you've gotta _stop_ doing that," Flare stated annoyed, though there was a smirk spread across his muzzle.

Spyro backed away a few paces, instantly catching the attention of the two battlers, Cynder and the rest of the class. "F-Flare?" the purple dragon stammered.

"Yeah?" he replied casually, the smirk not leaving. The red dragon could see the bewilderment looks he was getting from Spyro, Cynder and the smaller blue dragon who was battling, other than those three the class looked extremely confused.

Before the red dragon could comprehend it, Spyro had wrapped his wings around him and already pulled his close for a hug. The red dragon was slightly startled by the sudden gesture, but tried his best not to seem embarrassed, everyone in Spyro's class _was_ watching after all.

After the purple dragon pulled away, Flare looked straight into his eyes. "Did you really miss me that much?" he asked quietly.

Spyro faltered a bit. "What, no that's not it, didn't Sparx tell you?"

Flare tilted his head in confusion. "Tell me what?"

Spyro sighed in reply, turning to the ground. After making a personal note to tell his dragonfly brother off for not telling Flare he turned back to his youngest brother who was staring at him with questioning eyes. His eyes suddenly felt glossy.

"Flare, you almost died."

Flare was taken aback with eyes wide with horror and took a few steps back; _did he just say what I thought he said?_ He wondered, turning to Cynder, only to get a nod of confirmation. Flare couldn't believe it; this was the second time he almost died in the matter of a few weeks.

The deathly silence didn't help, almost finalizing that everyone in the room heard what Spyro just said. After a few moments Flare let out a deep sigh and turned his gaze to the ground.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't use _that_ power ever again," the red dragon replied, more to himself than anyone else. The truth was that he didn't even know how he got the power, all he wanted to do is protect his friends and brother and then he just felt his power rise…massively. The feeling was actually quite overwhelming, it made the red dragon think that he was in fact invisible.

Spyro could see the sad look in his brother's eyes when he said that. Quickly the purple dragon began to brainstorm what would make his youngest brother feel better, but was interrupted when the dark blue dragon from the training began to walk up to Flare.

The blue dragon sighed. "Look Flare, if this makes you happy I'd battle you in the lunch break."

Flare's eyes lit up as he turned to face the dragon, eyes full of happiness. "Really Cavice?"

The blue dragon smiled in return. "Of course, only if you don't destroy anything in the battle?" he joked, earning a glare by his young brother, though it was half-hearted.

Flare found himself grinning as he nodded. "I won't make any promises, though."

Cavice rolled his eyes. "Oh bother."

Flare smiled in return before turning to Spyro, who was standing beside him silently. "Would you mind if I stayed and watched Spyro?"

It surprised the red dragon when his brother shook his head. "I'm sorry Flare, but Terrador told that when you awake, to see him straight away."

Flare expected half of what the purple dragon just said but he didn't like it, after their horrible start, the red dragon and the earth guardian seemed to get along alright, but they still have their differences once in a while. With a nod the red dragon walked off silently to the earth guardian's office.

Spyro stared after his brother for a few seconds, before turning back to Cavice and the other ice dragon. "Start again!" he ordered before the two dragons got to their corners for another round.

Flare sighed nervously as he stopped in front of a door that read:

_HEADMASTER TERRADOR'S OFFICE_

With another nervous sigh the red dragon knocked gently three times on the door with his flame-shaped tail blade.

"Enter," a deep voice stated from inside. Flare pushed the door open to find himself in Terrador's office.

The office was quite small, considering that it was the office of an guardian with a small desk in the centre, a small bookcase and some other things, most are the earth guardians personal belongings. Terrador himself was sitting on a cushion, behind the small desk.

Terrador smiled as the red dragon entered the room. "Ah it's good to see you awake young dragon, we thought it would have taken you another day, but it seems that you recovered very fast." The earth guardian's face then hardened. "But are you aware that you were close to…" he trailed off.

Flare gave a sharp nod. "Spyro told me on my way here, but I don't know if I should believe it." The red dragon switched his gaze to his paws. "The fact that I almost died over just releasing some power is pretty…"

"Surprising?" Terrador suggested when the red dragon just stopped talking.

Flare gave another sharp nod. "Yeah, surprising," he continued.

Terrador kept the red dragon in his sight for a few seconds, eyes narrowed, deep in thought. The staring made Flare seem awkward. _What is he thinking about?_ Flare wondered as the earth guardian's gaze continued to drill into him.

Suddenly the earth guardian smiled again, much to Flare's confusion. "Flare, can you tell me about that power that you just talked about, the one that almost killed you?" he asked.

Flare was at shock for a few seconds, wondering why the earth guardian would ever know such a thing. But the red dragon nodded hesitantly before staring at the ground again and closing his eyes, trying to remember the event.

"Well it was kinda like a spark that appeared when I saw the pain in Spyro's eyes," he began, eyes still closed, as he continued to remember.

Terrador meanwhile made a mental note to ask Spyro why he was in pain.

"I had to concentrate hard to see it though, but soon after I saw it a voice told me to grab it," Flare continued.

"What did the voice sound like?" Terrador interrupted, much to Flare's annoyance. Bur the red dragon had to admit it was a good question.

Flare tightened his eyes as he tried to remember the voice. "The voice was…calm, the owner of the voice seemed to be old because it also sounded weak with age. It seemed male, but it also had a tint of a knowing voice. As if it knew what I was thinking…"

"And what were you thinking?"

Flare's eyes snapped open. "Revenge," he stated bitterly. "I wanted revenge on the giant earth golem who was draining Spyro and Cynder of their energy with dark gems." Flare then closed his eyes again. "It helped, because straight after I grabbed the spark, energy flared inside me and then for a minute or so, I felt invincible, nothing could stop me from tearing that golem to pieces."

The red dragon then turned to the earth guardian, eyes opening. "And that's about it."

All Terrador could do was stare at the younger dragon in shock about what he just heard about. After the shock wore off, the earth guardian shook his head roughly.

"Thank you for the information young dragon, you may have the rest of the day off to recover just please don't disturb the classes," the earth guardian stated.

With a nod and a quick "see ya", Flare quickly ran out of the room, eyes full of mischief. Though the red dragon knew better, he decided to visit Spyro and his class again. When the red dragon got there, Cavice and the other blue dragon had left the squared ring in the centre and two electric dragons were in their place. Quickly Flare made his way to Spyro's side.

The purple dragon gave jump of shock to see his youngest brother next to him again. But quickly his face hardened into a glare. "Didn't I tell you to go to Terrador?"

Flare just shrugged. "I did, he told me I had the day off."

Spyro was caught by surprise and stepped back a few paces. _A day off_, he thought. _When does Terrador gives days off?_

"Also Spyro, can I stay here? I'm bored," the red dragon asked, eyes pleading for a yes.

Spyro quickly turned to Cynder, who just shrugged with a smile. The purple dragon quickly turned back to Flare, who was still staring at him. "Ok fine, you can stay," he stated with a sigh, getting a quiet "Yay" from his brother. "But if you distract any of my students I'd tell you to leave," he then added sternly.

Flare seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding quickly.

Getting the answer that he wanted the purple dragon turned back to his class with a sigh as his youngest brother made his way to one of the spectator's benches which also had cushions on them.

The red dragon chose a spot that was far away from the rest of the class as he laid his head on his paws, boredly staring at the two electric dragon's who were still battling.

After a few minutes of silently watching the two electrics battle, one landed at vital hit and managed to daze the other, before quickly pinning the other onto the ground.

"Good work Spark, you win," Spyro congratulated from the sidelines as the two electric dragons tiredly made their way off the ring. After both his students had settled down, Spyro turned his gaze to his other students. "Now who wants to battle next?"

The room was silent for a few seconds until one of the students shouted out. "Flare against Cavice!"

Both brothers shot up at the mention of their names. Each not really understanding why their names were called out.

Suddenly the whole class began to chant it. "Flare against Cavice, Flare against Cavice, Flare against Cavice."

This repeated until Spyro couldn't take it. He wanted to allow his two brothers to face off because he too wanted to know what would happen, but he couldn't allow his youngest brother to fight, he was supposed to not be interrupting his lessons.

As the chanting grew louder the purple dragon didn't know what to do, should he allow it or not…

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><p><strong>You get to decide. :P Yep you heard me right, tell me in a review or PM me your answer. But I will warn you, if you say yes for the battle to be in the next chapter then Flare and Cavice won't battle in thier lunch break. Also because I'm pretty eager to write the next chapter, please send your answer ASAP, I'd be counting it in like two days. :)<strong>

**Did you enjoy it? I promise you that it'd get better. ;) Also please review, I love it when people do. Also another thanks again to my reviewers for 'The Forgotten Past', you guys are awesome!**

**So until next time! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow this took quite a while to write. (Sorry!) Anyway it's now up and also you get to find out what would happen. Thanks to the people that voted and...I should stop talking now.**

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><p>"Quiet!" Cynder shouted, instantly silencing her class, before turning to Spyro beside her with a questioning look in her eyes.<p>

The purple dragon still didn't know what to do, if he allowed his two brothers to brawl and they get caught, not only would Flare and Cavice get in trouble but also Spyro and Cynder for not stopping them.

Spyro shook his head as the thought crept into his mind. _That wouldn't be good considering how much Terrador already dislikes Flare,_ he pondered in his mind before turning to Cynder with a sigh. The purple dragon gave his mate a quick shake of his head, he was sure she also knew that it'd be too risky.

Cynder nodded in reply before turning back to the students. "Sorry class I'd be too risky," she announced evenly. "If the guardians see these two brawling, I'm sure all of us would get in trouble." It was half true; the students might also get in trouble because they _were_ the ones that urged them to even think of it.

The students replied with a full force groan of disappointment, some nodded understandingly.

But Cavice sighed thankfully; he didn't want to get in a bad point with the guardians, unlike his idiotically dumb younger brother.

"Now, you'd be able to watch these two battle it out in the lunch break, which is after your next lesson with Volteer," Spyro cut in. "Bring your friends along, I'm sure my brothers won't get any more nervous."

_You do not know how wrong you are Spyro,_ Cavice thought bitterly as he switched his gaze to Flare. The red dragon met his gaze and smiled to reassure his elder brother.

"You can do it Cavice," the red dragon mouthed. Cavice snorted angrily before turning away.

Flare scowled at his brother's reaction, what did he do wrong? All he did was mouth that he could get over his nervousness, or did his elder blue brother think he said something different. The red dragon shrugged before laying his chin his paws boredly as Spyro and Cynder began to continue the lesson.

Flare continued to lie, boredly watching more and more dragons begin to pit against each other, until he suddenly saw some movement at the side of his eye. Slightly startled, the red dragon sat up and turned around to see that Cynder was approaching him. Calming down, he laid back down as the black dragoness approached.

"Hi Cynder," he greeted as the dragoness sat next to him.

Cynder smiled in return. "Hi Flare, it's been a long time since we've talked," the black dragoness then changed her gaze to Spyro, her smile slowly growing. "Hey what was that thing we talked about last time anyway?"

Flare followed the dragoness' gaze and before concentrating back. "I don't really remember, I'm sorry, Cynder."

Cynder's smile seemed to falter a bit, but somehow kept there. "Ok I'd give you a hint, it has something to do with me and Spyro."

It all came back to the red dragon like a flood and as clear as crystals. His eyes widened as he turned to Cynder again, eyes full of confusion and half dreading the answer.

"D-D-Did you?"

Cynder's smile reached its limit as she nodded a bit too quickly. "You bet I did!" Flare smiled as hard as he could before feeling Cynder's wing around him.

The black dragoness hugged the surprised red dragon as hard as she could. "And I have you to thank for it Flare."

Still surprised, Flare wrapped his own wing around her in a slight hug. _Cynder must've waited a long time to tell me this,_ he thought as the black dragoness grip tightened slightly.

After a long moment Cynder let go, the smile still there but also with some tears Flare believe wasn't there before. "Thanks Flare," with that, the black dragoness turned and walked back to Spyro.

Still slightly surprised Flare placed his chin on his paws again. _Your welcome Cynder,_ he thought with a smile.

After what seemed like hours for the young red dragon, the class was finally dismissed by their two teachers. As the students left, Flare stood up from his bench and walked up to his eldest brother and his mate.

Flare gave Cynder a quick smile before turning to Spyro. "So who do you have now?"

The purple dragon faltered a bit before straightening up a split second later. "I think you should leave before then Flare," he suggested.

"What? Why?" Flare asked, eyes widened in shock.

Spyro just turned away muttering an inaudible sentence, making Flare even more intrigued.

"Flare," Cynder called, grabbing his attention away from his brother. The black dragoness hesitated for a second and took a glance at Spyro. "Tyrant is in the next class."

Flare was taken back, he completely forgot about the larger earth dragon. How? Flare would never know. With a sudden haste in his step the red dragon turned to both of his battle teachers and gave a slight nod of farewell.

"See ya guys," with that the red dragon ran out of the room with speed he never knew he had. It took hardly a minute for him to exit the building, but as he burst out of the building he was drenched with rain.

After silently cursing himself for being such a scatterbrain to forget, he ran as fast as he could to his room, hoping to find something to occupy him there until lunch-break. The red dragon reached the room in less than a few minutes and flopped down on his ruby red bed. Strangely he felt tired from the run, but nonetheless he was not going to fall asleep. He knew that he'd probably never wake up on time to get to the match, making the whole school would hate him.

A shiver ran down his spine as the idea came to mind. "No I will not let everyone down," he mumbled to himself. But the red dragon knew far too well that if he didn't find something to do fast he would eventually fall asleep.

The idea of going to the Valley of Avalar came to mind but he quickly shook that thought out of his mind, he already knew that the actual journey would take most of the time, if not all of it. But the thought seemed very inviting.

_Maybe I can make the journey in time_, he wondered. Again, the thought of the actual journey stopped him as he shook his head again. _Maybe after school Spyro and the others will come with me_. That thought seemed to reassure the young red dragon but nonetheless he was still extremely bored.

After a few minutes of thinking, Flare finally came up with an idea but he wasn't sure how long in was going to last. After a quick shrug, the red dragon made his way out of his room and rather slowly walked back to the exit of the building. When he exited the building however, a strange voice seemed to ring through his head saying.

"You won't live…" the voice however was very familiar and somehow reminded him about Malefor.

Cautiously and slightly fearfully, Flare quickly scanned around him hoping to find nothing but the ordinary. When he didn't find anything, the red dragon took a quick sigh and took off running. When he stopped again he was in front of a large stadium, it was here when Flare showed most of the dragons in the city that he was not a regular dragon a few weeks ago in a tournament final.

It was also where he met two friends, Shade and Voltage. Both were very nice- although Voltage was too egotistic for his own good –but he learn't to never judge them. Both were strangely different however. Shade was a black dragon, as far as Flare knew, only Cynder was the black dragon ever, it intrigued Flare further when Shade used poison against him in that first battle. But what surprised Flare more was Voltage, he was electric blue, unlike all the other electric dragons. It also fascinated Flare when he managed to surround himself in electric to make himself faster.

Flare smiled as the memory played itself in his head as he entered the building. Inside was just as the red dragon remembered it; it was all one huge room with numerous seats all around a middle squared ring. The ring itself was massive; Flare thought it could fit above thirty fully grown dragons on it.

"How may I help you young dragon?" asked a high voice, slightly startling Flare.

The red dragon quickly tensed his body and turned to his left and found tiny mole next to him, eyes filled with what Flare thought was fear. With a sigh the red dragon relaxed his body before staring back at the mole.

"Oh, hi," he said slightly cheerful. "I'm just wondering if I could use the ring for some practice."

The mole seemed generally surprised by the question, but it soon left as it turned to the marble platform. "Ah yes, the ring is for anyone's usage," the mole turned back to the red dragon, a stern look spread across his face. "As long as they don't damage it," it added sternly before walking off without another word.

Flare found himself in a kind of shock, what was weird was that he didn't know what triggered it. _Maybe it was the velocity in the mole's voice?_ The red dragon wondered as he began his slow trudge down to the middle platform. _But why would I be surprised by that, the mole is obviously hardworking._

As he continued to ponder, he suddenly felt his thoughts being drawn to the strange incident after he left his home. The voice seemed far too familiar, yet haunting, instantly giving the red dragon the suggestion that the voice belonged to Malefor, but past that he heard something more, something that he swore he never heard in his old master's voice. It seemed like…sadness…

*.*.*

Far away, underground in a secret cave The Dark Master, Malefor smiled darkly. "Looks like I managed to get through this time," the dark purple dragon stated, dark satisfaction thick in his voice.

"Master?" Malefor turned to see a young hooded and cloaked dragon approach him. The cloak itself was a deep shade of green, the most anyone could make out from the actual dragon was that he was a bulky earth dragon with bright pale blue eyes.

The Dark Master smiled as the younger, but regularly large dragon approached him. "Ah it's good to see you back, have you found any important news about Spyro yet?"

Malefor's smile soon disappeared when he saw his most trusted ally shake his head. "I'm sorry master but Spyro is not letting out much."

The Dark Master frowned. "So what do you have to report to me?"

"I would be happy to report that both Flare and Cavice are going to be battling each other in their lunch time," a small smile appeared on the earth dragon muzzle. "Do you want me to study them and figure out their weaknesses?"

Malefor was mildly surprised by the news, for one the two dragons that had caused him so much trouble were showing their talents in front of an open crowd. The opportunity was screaming 'come on figure out my weakness' all over it. The Dark Master turned away and began to ponder if this was some kind of set up.

"Master?"

Malefor turned back to his ally. "Yes I would like you to do so, as soon as the match is finished I want you to come straight back here and give me another report."

The earth dragon gave a sharp nod.

"Dismissed," Malefor announced, waving a dismissive paw.

The Dark Master wait a few seconds as the earth dragon got further and further away before adding. "Also, take off that hood Evadorus; you look ridiculous with it on."

The earth dragon stopped sharply, before turning around and giving his master another sharp nod. "Yes master." Slowly, the large dragon reached for the top of the hood with his forepaw and flicked it off, revealing a large green head. Two slight scars barely visible under each eye.

"Good," Malefor replied before turning away. After a few seconds of silent waiting he heard Evadorus footsteps getting farther and farther away, echoing back at him.

With a sigh, the purple dragon turned back to a deep blue crystal in front of him. The crystal though was much different to the others, to the eye it was a normal blue crystal but it was much more to The Dark Master.

With an evil smile he tapped the smooth surface of the crystal with a talon, inciting a high pitch clicking sound that echoed in the once silent cave. Almost instantly a rather small image of a large grublin came into the purple dragon's view, Malefor knew this particular grublin as The Commander. It was the leader of all grublins and had more control than even The Dark Master over the grublins.

"Yes Master?" it asked eagerly as Malefor's smirk spread, the most useful thing about this certain grublin is that he could understand it clearly.

"Yes Commander," the purple dragon replied, an urgent tone thick in his voice as he took on a more serious expression. "I'd like to know the current condition of your soldiers."

The Commander nodded its head once. "Yes master, the current status of the soldiers is that they on the last of the mountains that surround Warfang. Master they are on your order to attack the city."

Malefor's smile appeared again when he heard the news. "Thank you Commander, I'd give you the order when everything is ready."

The Commander nodded again before the image disappeared.

With another exhausted sigh he made his way out of the mini carven which served as a meeting room, though it wasn't much, just a large blue crystal in the centre. As the large purple dragon made his way to the end of the carven he gave the crystal another glace before walking out of it.

The Dark Master made his way through the narrow tunnels that served as his home, though to him it needed to be increased in size, he was a large full grown dragon after all.

Malefor suddenly stopped, with slight hesitation the old purple dragon turned his head to the left. A thin tunnel leads its way to another room, one holding something extremely precious to him. With a hesitant step, the purple dragon made his way through the small tunnel, ever so often having to crouch as he hit his back on a the hard rocks surrounding him. It was not a surprise because of the bad lighting; The Dark Master hardly even knew where he was going.

After what seemed like an eternity, the old purple dragon finally saw a faint golden glow coming from the end of the tunnel. With a sigh of delight, Malefor made his way into the large carven. Inside were two teenaged dragons, one yellow, one green. Both were trapped in an amber rock, also what Malefor called a Time-trap.

A dark grin of satisfaction spread across The Dark Master's muzzle as he slowly strode over to the amber-like crystal and rested a gentle paw on it.

"Oh looks like its poor Valie and Saber are still stuck in the Time-trap," he stated, a mocking tone thick in his voice as he looked over the two dragons.

Saber was obviously the one that created the time-trap; the green dragon was in a concentrating state. The reason for the time-trap, Malefor could never figure out.

The Dark Master stared at the two younger dragons silently for a few seconds before turning away and making his way back down the narrow tunnel.

When he reached the place where he was before he turned and continued his way down a better sized tunnel for the large purple dragon. After a minute of silently walking, The Dark Master finally came to his destination, a small carven which split two different ways. One way led to the surface and the other led to Malefor's own chamber.

With a hesitant step he turned to the tunnel which led to his chamber and quickly walked through it. After a few seconds he finally caught sight of it, a big carven with small dark crystals scattered around the 'room' for lighting. The Dark Master knew it wasn't much but he had to make do with it. The large purple dragon quickly searched the room for his objective and quickly found it.

He hastily walked over to a black chest that was at the side of the 'room' and flung it open. He rampaged through it for a few seconds and found what he was looking for, a fully set of dark purple armor.

The purple dragon then closed the chest and began to put on his armor. After a few seconds, The Dark Master was set with the full set of armor. Quickly, he turned to a polished stone that acted as a mirror and found out that it looked perfect on him.

With a smile he turned to march out of the room and proceed with his plan until an unknown force stopped him.

_Wouldn't the grublins be tired after the journey through the mountains?_ A voice asked him in his head.

The Dark Master stopped mid-step. _The voice was right_, he thought as he turned around, back to his chamber. _The grublins would probably not be able to put up a fight against the dragons if they're tired, even though the walls are destroyed_.

Malefor paced for a few seconds as he tried to figure out the best decision. The purple dragon finally stopped as he finally decided, _I'll hold off the attack for a few more days. _With that he ran down back to the room he started at…

*.*.*

Flare stepped into the ring, half hesitantly. _Now, how do I call on those dummies again?_ He wondered as he looked at the ground, as if expecting the dummies to just pop up. After a few seconds of waiting, the red dragon let out a dejected sigh before tapping his chin with a claw in deep thought.

_Maybe I just need to concentrate?_ He wondered, before narrowing his eyes on a spot of the platform. Another few seconds passed in silence as the red dragon continued to concentrate on one spot of the ring. After what seemed like an eternity a dummy began to rise from the tiled floor, slowly. Sensing slight delight pour out inside of him, Flare closed his eyes and concentrate more.

After a moment, the red dragon reluctantly opened his eyes and to his joyous surprise a straw-like dummy stood right in front of him. But as he peered closer to it, he realized that the shape it was in was awfully familiar. Before he could think any further, the dummy suddenly charged at him its straw-like weapon raised. With a sigh of boredom the red dragon easily side-stepped the dummy and brought his tail blade straight to its throat, instantly slicing it clean off.

The red dragon quickly turned around, before his eyes widened in sudden realization and surprise. He finally recognized the shape of the dummy, it looked exactly like an ape. Cautiously, he quietly stalked up to the motionless pile of straw as if expecting it to come to life any second.

To Flare's relief, it didn't. With a sigh, the red dragon walked up to his end of the platform again and tried to again, this time trying to summon more than one ape-like dummies. He closed his eyes again and concentrated.

Flare grinned as five ape dummies appeared before him, all carrying straw maces. The red dragon tried not to laugh as they all charged at him at once, though to him it was hilarious, the dummies and the actual apes think alike.

The red dragon yelped in surprise as he suddenly saw that the apes were only a few metres away. He immediately kicked off the ground, only to barely dodge a straw mace. Turning around quickly, a cocky smile spread across his muzzle. With nothing less than a few quick swipes with his tail, the apes were down…again.

With another bored sigh, the red dragon turned to the middle again. "Uh this is BORING," he stated to nobody in particular as he kicked the tile bored. "These things are supposed to be a challenge."

With nothing else on mind, he began to close his eyes again and concentrate again, this time harder. This _had_ to be a challenge for him it just _had_ to, if they didn't he swore he'd _die_ of boredom. After a few seconds of silently concentrating the red dragon opened his eyes again before letting out a gasp of surprise.

In front of him was straw apes, not normal straw apes, _huge_ straw apes and the sheer number of them was well over twenty.

As soon as Flare's shock wore off, he grinned in determination. "This is going to be fun!" he muttered before leaping at the dummies. A sense of dread washed over the red dragon as he saw one of the front apes rise a weapon- the red dragon wasn't sure what kind it was- a bring it crashing down towards him.

With a quick whip of his tail, the red dragon managed to parry the blow, only to notice another apes weapon come swinging at him.

With a grunt of pain, Flare was sent flying backwards. Somehow the red dragon managed to land on his feet a metre away from the end of the platform. He gave a sharp snarl as another ape came charging at him, weapon raised.

The red dragon smiled as he quickly side-stepped the weapon and sent his tail blade straight towards the handler's head. He was intercepted by another ape's weapon before his deadly blade could reach the dummy's head.

With a snarl of annoyance the red dragon quickly stepped back as more and more apes came charging at him. He decided the it was time to end the fight before his endurance gave out. After quickly side-stepping another ape, the red dragon let out an ear-shattering roar before quickly fire gathered at the back of his throat.

"See ya, apes!" with that, he opened his mouth wide and let loose fire. The fire quickly set the straw dummies alight and filled the room with blazing heat. With a tired smirk, the red dragon went around the squared ring and stamped out the dummies.

After he stamped out the last dummy, he immediately fell down in exhaustion, panting. The red dragon didn't know how long he was lying there, but after awhile he sat up, all the while still exhausted.

After another few minutes he finally had the strength to get to his feet. As soon as he was at his full height however, his legs suddenly gave way right under him. The red dragon let out a startled gasp as his fell muzzle first onto the hard tiled platform.

_What's up with me?_ He wondered as he struggled to sit up again. _I only used one basic fire attack? _The red dragon stood up again, but this time stabilizing himself so he didn't fall over again.

Taking small hatchling steps, the red dragon made his way to the entrance of the building. As soon as the sunlight hit his eyes, he squinted at the sudden light difference. After a few seconds the glare finally left, leaving the red dragon to ponder on what he should do next.

After a minute, the red dragon decided to go straight to bed, hoping he would wake up on time or at least gain some of his energy back.

Suddenly feeling a bit stronger, the red dragon began to take on a light jog. When he didn't feel too exhausted, he decided to pick up the pace a bit. After a few more seconds he was running a full pelt straight for his bed, he still didn't know where he got the energy but the red dragon wasn't complaining, he liked the feeling of wind whipping across his muzzle, it was exhilarating.

In the matter of a few minutes, the red dragon had made his way to his home, panting heavily. Tiredly he walked inside and made his way straight to his room. When he got there, the red dragon instantly jumped onto his bed and closed his eyes, hoping for sleep to take over his consciousness.

Unfortunately for the red dragon, it didn't. Instead the voice came back, as clear as ever. The red dragon tried hard to get it out of his head, but it didn't budge. It was as if it was _trying_ to stay in his head.

After a few more failed attempts, the red dragon let out a dejected sigh. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't get the voice out of his head. He turned to his only window boredly, it seemed inordinately bright for morning.

The red dragon then widened in sudden realization, as he quickly took off running…

*.*.*

Cavice tapped a tail-blade on the stone floor beneath him in annoyance. The blue dragon was already in the ring, waiting for his younger brother to come.

The blue dragon rolled his eyes_. Tell Flare to come on time and he'd come late_, he thought as he quickly turned his gaze to Spyro and Cynder, who were on the teachers stands. Then he turned to the crowd of other students, who were waiting eagerly for the match to start, some even brought their lunch with them.

Then he finally turned to the earth guardian beside him, Terrador. The earth guardian willingly chose to be the umpired for the match, for a reason Cavice would never know. To the blue dragon, it was to get a front row seat of the battle, but he quickly shook the thought out of his head as he thought it through.

The blue dragon suddenly turned when he heard the heavy beat of wings, only to find Cyril flying down to him. The young blue dragon let out a sigh of annoyance seeing how the dragon wasn't his brother, but quickly he smiled as a greeting as the ice guardian landed beside him.

"Hello young Cavice," he greeted with a smile.

Cavice nodded in reply. "It's good to see you too Cyril," he replied.

"Just out of curiosity young dragon, who is the stronger one out of you and your youngest brother?" the ice guardian suddenly asked.

The question caught Cavice by surprise, but he tried not to show it. "Flare, why?"

The ice guardian's shoulders seemed to droop a bit. "Oh, it's just that, Volteer and I are having this little argument about who is the better one in fighting out of the two of you. I of course said you were, because your element is ice. But Volteer is saying that you would not stand a chance against your brother because of some stupid 'more elements' reason."

Cavice smiled as the ice guardian finished explaining. "Yes, must've disappointed you to hear that Flare was the stronger one." The blue dragon quickly turned away and stared at the only entrance to the room, as if he was expecting his brother to just barge in. When it didn't happen he turned back to the rather curious ice guardian. "But if it was a fair fight, I would probably win," he decided to add.

The blue dragon quickly turned to the elder dragon to see his face in frown of confusion. With a sigh he turned back to the entrance. "I told you he was stronger, not faster."

"Ah that explains a lot," Cyril exclaimed.

Just as the ice guardian finished his sentence, the sound of paw pads hitting stone reached Cavice's ears. With sigh of delight and slight frustration, he finally caught sight of the young red dragon he waited so long for.

"I better go," Cyril stated before giving Cavice a quick reassuring smile and flying back up into the stands.

Cavice frowned as he brother ran up to him.

"I can explain everything," Flare stated as he drew closer to his elder brother.

Cavice held up a paw. "Afterwards, now we battle. I can't wait to drill your muzzle into the dirt in front of everyone."

Flare glared at the blue dragon. "As if!" with that the red dragon walked to the side of the ring.

Terrador quickly turned his head to Cavice, who replied with a simple nod. Flare did the same when the earth guardian turned to him. Terrador then raised a wing.

"Begin!" he announced as he dropped his wing.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah those two finally get to fight! And not to mention the big old evil dragon named Malefor, it really makes you wonder what he's planning huh?<strong>

**Again, thank you to my reviewers, your review counts! :D**

**So until next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Ok, now I'm sorry for the wait...again. I've got a truck-load of excuses, but I can sum it up to two. School and writer's block. Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

><p>As Terrador's wing dropped, Cavice instantly spat a cold narrow stream of concentrated ice breath at Flare.<p>

The red dragon's eyes widened in surprise before he quickly sidestepped the narrow beam, which instantly froze the spot on the tile it just hit. Quickly, the red dragon turned back to his brother, eyes narrowed in a glare.

Without wasting another second, he sprinted at his brother.

After barely dodging another narrow-beamed ice breath, the red dragon was only a few metres away for Cavice. With a snarl of excitement, he launched himself at the blue dragon, talons extended for an aggressive attack.

Seconds before he reached Cavice, the blue dragon easily sidestepped his younger brother and counterattacked with a claw.

Flare ducked the attack before countering with the side of his tail blade.

The blue dragon parried it with his own tail blade, before quickly jumping back out of tail-range.

Flare's eye widened in shock as his elder brother opened his maw and unleashed another beam of ice. Out of pure reflex, the red dragon opened his own maw and unleashed a stream of fire. The two elements clashed into each other halfway, instantly filling the room with a high pitch rapid melting sound and creating mist to flood over the two young dragons.

Flare wasted no time leaping out into the spot where his brother had just been. A second later, the red dragon skidded to a halt out of the mist. Surprised, he quickly turned around and eyed the mist for any movement. The red dragon didn't have to wait long until he was his brother leap out of the mist straight to him.

With a startled yelp, Flare quickly side-stepped his brother before he came rushing past, narrowly missing the red dragon. The red dragon quickly whipped around to face his brother, panting.

"Wow…Cavice…you're…amazing," he commented as fresh beads of sweat rolled down his brow and onto his muzzle.

It was obvious that the Cavice was also tired, but he hardly even showed it through his posture. "I could say you too, but I guess you're nothing compared to me," he stated smugly, as some beads of sweat rolled down his muzzle.

A growl formed at the back of the red dragon's throat, he seriously hated it when his brother acted like he was the best in the world and this time was no difference. "You're tired as well Cav, so don't get all cocky."

The blue dragon lowered himself in a battle position. "Oh am I?"

Flare smiled as he lowered himself into a battle stance as well. "You bet!"

Cavice snarled as he launched himself as his younger brother.

With a smirk of success, Flare quickly side-stepped his elder brother, whacking him in the back of the head with the side of his tail blade as the blue dragon flew past. The blow was enough to make Cavice go flying. With a millisecond to spare, the blue dragon quickly spread his wings to draw himself to a halt an inch from the edge of the platform, before slowly and quietly landing.

When the blue dragon touched the ground, Flare instantly charged, head down, horns exposed. The red dragon was expecting his elder brother to simply sidestep the attack, but to his surprise. Instead Cavice leapt over him a smile shown clearly over his face. That was only when Flare realized that his momentum was carrying him closer and closer to the side of the platform.

The red dragon's eyes widened in horror before he stopped running and skidded, silently hoping that he wasn't too late. With a thankful sigh, the red dragon managed to stop on the ledge of the platform. A wave of horror came over him as he turned around to see his brother sprinting at him, head down, ready to knock him off the platform.

After hesitating briefly, the red dragon quickly jumped sideward, dodging his brother by an inch. Flare quickly whipped around to see his brother stop a muzzle-length from the edge of the ring before changing his direction and charging again.

The red dragon gave a startled yelp as his barely dodged another one of his brother's charges. He turned around again to see Cavice stop, turn around and charge again. Thinking that his brother's plan was getting old, the red dragon quickly slammed both paws onto the marble tile, managing to make another crack into its surface. A second later, a pillar of pure magma flooded his paws from the crack, almost touching his muzzle.

With a startled yelp, Cavice skidded to a halt a tail-length from his brother and the spewing magma. The blue dragon almost immediately glared at his brother through the magma. "Taking it up a level are we?"

Without so much as another word the blue dragon opened his mouth, seconds later a concentrated pump of water came from his mouth.

Flare quickly jumped back as the water hit his magma pillar, instantly hardening the melted rock and creating a tall pillar of rock instead. The sight of the red dragon's strongest element being turned to stone made him beyond angry. With a roar of rage the red dragon charged head-first around the rock and straight at his brother.

But as soon as he rounded the pillar he was hit with another jet pump of water, pushing him close to the edge of the ring again. The red dragon almost immediately tried to get to his feet but failed when his paw slipped on the slippery surface bellow him. With a cry of surprise he fell and crashed muzzle-first into the hard marble beneath him.

"Awww, poor Flare can't even pick himself up after getting a little wet," Cavice taunted as he slowly stepped closer to his younger brother, who was still having trouble getting up. The blue dragon got a chuckle from the crowd.

Flare looked up at his elder blue brother, eyes blazing with anger. _How dare he taunt me in front of everyone,_ he thought as a growl formed at the back of his throat. As the red dragon's anger grew so did his the heat around him, soon the few water droplets that were on him from his brother's attack were boiling. With another growl the red dragon placed both of his paws in front of him before pushing himself back to his feet with ease.

His eyes then narrowed on the smiling blue dragon who had stopped mid-step. "Cavice…" he stated, body tensed ready for any attack. "You…are…so…DEAD!" The red dragon leapt at his brother, eyes still blazing.

Cavice let out another startled yelp before sidestepping his younger brother. The red dragon landed on his feet a metre away before quickly turning around and launching himself at his brother again.

The blue dragon was barely able to dodge another one of his brother's leaps before he let loose another pump of water.

Flare's eyes narrowed onto the ever-increasing size of the water as it came at him. Without a second to spare, the red dragon slammed both paws onto the marble floor, making another pillar of magma to erupt and block his brother's attack. Immediately after the attack finished, he ran around his pillar, only to almost be drenched with another pump of water.

Cavice sidestepped his brother as he charged straight towards him. Again the blue dragon narrowly dodged another one of his brother's charges. For some unknown reason instead of tiring the red dragon out it was making him stronger, faster and even smarter in battle. Cavice didn't know how long he could keep dodging his brother's attacks; the red dragon wasn't even allowing him any time to counter-attack.

After narrowly dodging another one of his brother's flames, the blue dragon let loose another pump of water. To Cavice's surprise, his brother didn't make any attempt to dodge the attack, instead he took it head on. As the concentrated water hit the red dragon, Cavice couldn't help but worry if he hurt his brother.

He got his answer a few seconds afterwards, when the shape of the red dragon came into view. But to the blue dragon's horror, he wasn't even scratched he was just…drenched. The red dragon was still standing, if it wasn't for the scratch marks that his claws made in the marble when he was hit, not many would have thought that he didn't even move.

"That was very refreshing Cavi," he taunted, a smile clearly showing over his muzzle and instantly inciting another wave of chuckles from the crowd.

Cavice glared daggers at his brother. _CAVI! HOW DARE HE!_ He shouted in his mind, a snarled fixed over his muzzle as he stared at the smiling face of his brother. To know that the red dragon was smiling drove the blue dragon's anger even further.

With another snarl of frustration, the blue dragon opened his maw only to let loose another beam of water. But, as the blue dragon expected his brother didn't move, he just stood there as the element grew closer. Cavice smirked as it crashing into him head on, knocking him back a metre, but nothing more. As Flare got into view again, the blue dragon couldn't help but chuckle, the once smirk that was spread over the red dragon's muzzle had turned into a frown of frustration.

Without wasting another second, Cavice closed his eyes as he concentrated harder on his element. Almost instantly he heard his younger brother yelp in surprise and the crowd gasp, which almost made the blue dragon certain that his plan went as he thought.

With a smirk, he opened his eyes to see his brother frozen up to his neck with ice. The red dragon looked anything but comfortable at the position he was in but nonetheless his expression was clearly one, surprise.

"H-How'd you-" Cavice cut his younger brother off with a raised paw.

"I froze the water that was already on you," he stated simply, the smile still on his muzzle. "Give up yet?"

To blue dragon's surprise, his younger brother smiled back. "Not on your life Cav," the smile grew a little as he said it. "You're not the only one who was keeping secrets."

Cavice raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

"This," Flare stated before he breathed out a stream of fire, instantly melting the ice.

Cavice rolled his eyes. "That was it?"

Flare quickly shook his head. "Nope."

Cavice let out an annoyed growl as both dragons lowered themselves in battle-stances. Suddenly a high-pitch sound rung through the entire building, startling the two battle dragons. A second later the room was filled with various groans of disappointment from the watching students.

It took the blue dragon a couple of seconds to realize that the bell just rang, before he himself groaned, turning to his claws in disappointment. He knew that his brother's endurance was at its peak and that in only a few more minutes his would've won.

The sound of claw clicking against marble in front of him made Cavice look back up, to see Flare slowly making his way to him. This made the blue dragon slightly confused, but nonetheless he waited until his younger brother was a mere metre away from him before finally turning to him.

"Good match Cav," the red dragon stated simply, a small smile tugging at the side of his muzzle.

Cavice smiled back. "Yeah but you do know that I was going to win, right?" he replied smugly.

To the blue dragon's surprise, Flare nodded. "Yep, from the start when you first blasted me with that torrent of water, I knew I was done for," the red dragon admitted, still smiling.

Again, this surprised Cavice, but the blue dragon just stared at his brother, a look of boredom over his face.

The blue dragon's stare seemed to make Flare uncomfortable, because a second later he suddenly turned around and faced the exit of the room, where the other students were departing. With a sigh, the red dragon turned back to his brother. "You better get back to class bro, I don't know who you've got next but if it's Volteer and you're late, oh boy you're going to be in for it," he stated, a small smile of teasing over his muzzle.

Cavice rolled his eyes. "Don't start with that Flare, trust me, I already know."

Flare nodded once. "Yeah, well, I better go before _I_ get in trouble for distracting _you,_" the red dragon quickly turned around, before turning his head to face his blue brother again. "See ya after school, Cav!" with that, the red dragon took off running out of the exit.

Cavice continued to stare after his brother as he began to get further away, a confused look on his muzzle. _That was a bit sudden Flare, _he thought, eyes narrowing on the red dragon suspiciously before he rounded a corner. _What are you up to?_

The blue dragon's thoughts were interrupted when the sound of wings beating air reached his ears. Cavice quickly turned around to see Spyro, Cynder, Volteer and Cyril fly towards him, a look that mirrored the blue dragon's spread across their muzzles.

As the four dragons landed, Cavice turned back to the hallway his youngest brother just left. After staring at the same spot for a few seconds in deep thought, the blue dragon turned back to the four approaching dragons.

The blue dragon instantly noticed that both Volteer and Cyril were both arguing. He then turned to the two younger dragons that were looking like they were trying to ignore the two guardians behind them. It brought a smirk to the blue dragon's muzzle to see that it was not only him that disliked the constant disagreements between the two guardians.

"Hey," he greeted as the four dragons approached him. A frown found itself over Cavice's muzzle when Volteer and Cyril hardly gave him acknowledgement from their argument.

"-I'm telling you Cyril, if Flare used electricity Cavice would hardly be able to stand," Volteer stated, as if he didn't recognize the blue dragon in front of him.

The blue guardian shook his head. "No Volteer, if you thought before you blabber on, you would realize that young Flare was tiring out quickly."

Volteer glared at his comrade in return. "If that young blue dragon didn't have the element of ice, Cyril. You wouldn't even be siding with him."

Cavice raised a brow at that statement, before zoning out of the two guardian's argument with a shake of his head. _What makes it funny is that they don't know what they are talking about,_ he thought as he quietly made his way towards Spyro and Cynder.

The smiled a greeting as the blue dragon made his way to them.

"Hi Cavice!" both greeted in unison, before quickly exchanging a loving glance.

Cavice smiled as he came to a halt, he was completely aware of what the two dragons that were in front of him had done. To the blue dragon it was relieving, he knew from the first time he saw two together- which was actually a few years ago –that they were going to be mates.

"Hi Spyro, Cynder!" he greeted, trying to hide the amusement in his eyes.

The blue dragon picked up the confused face Spyro pulled, but simply dismissed it with a wave of his paw, Cynder didn't seem to notice.

"That match was really enjoyable," she stated, a soft smile on her muzzle.

Spyro didn't miss beat to nod. "Yeah, where did you get that amount of fighting skills?"

Cavice shifted his gaze to his talons again, a dark look fell over his muzzle. "Spyro, when you have been through the things we've been through, you'd understand," he answered, not changing his gaze from his talons. "Anyways that was nothing."

Spyro raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

Cavice looked up at his purple brother. "Didn't you notice the continuous strategy Flare used, charging head-on, missing, turning and then repeating the process?"

Spyro gave his younger brother a confused look, before turning away as if in deep thought. After a few seconds of awkward silence the purple dragon faced the smaller dragon again.

"You're right…"

Cynder pawed at the ground anxiously, as a question continued to drill into her. After what seemed like an eternity, the black dragoness decided to voice her question.

"Wait, now that we're on the subject, where _did_ Flare go?" she suddenly asked, startling the two other dragons.

Cavice's muzzle soon turned into a scowl of deep thought, before shrugging. "I don't know, all he said was that he didn't want to get in trouble from the guardians," the blue dragon's expression immediately darkened. "But I don't believe that…" with that, he turned away quickly and walked off to his next class, leaving a stunned Spyro and Cynder behind.

As the blue dragon walked into the main hall a huge question continued to worm itself in his mind. _Flare what are you doing? _He wondered as he stepped into Volteer's classroom.

*.*.*

Darkness. That was all Evadorus could see as he trudged down the muddy cavern, staining his claws with the dirty liquid. The earth dragon quietly continued to trudge, ever so often bumping the side of the cavern because of the bad lighting, causing him to walk slower.

Strangely, the earth dragon body found the continuous walk rather peaceful and calming, though his mind said other things. You're _so dead, you're so dead_, he thought as he bumped into another side of the cavern, letting out a small grunt of surprise as he did so, but right now the earth dragon couldn't care less. His master told him to give a full report of the battle between the two brothers and not to leave out a little thing.

But what the earth dragon saw in the battle was that it was completely pointless and useless, he wasn't even able to figure out one bit of either dragon's tactic. Both were just…fighting, they weren't using any technique or anything, just charging and counter-attacking.

The earth dragon stopped mid-step, were these, the dragons his master was even talking of? To put it lightly, after Malefor had told him to watch out for the two and to never let their guard down, he had expected something more…grand from the battle.

He sighed before continuing to walk on. After few seconds, the earth dragon finally saw the faint purple light of dark crystals. With a gulp of nervousness, he took a step forwards, instantly lighting his dark green scales up with the distorted light. Evadorus chose to not wear his cloak in this occasion; reason was because his master told him he looked ridiculous with it on.

The earth dragon then stopped again and quickly tapped a dark crystal. Immediately inciting a high-pitch sound that seemed to ring through the entire cavern. A second later, the sound of paws thumping again stone, seemed to echo back. Suddenly the earth dragon saw his master seem to appear out of the shadows, startling him.

The elder dragon didn't seem all that impressed at his ally's reaction but nonetheless he kept his gaze on the smaller dragon. "Now, Evadorus what do you have to report to me?" The Dark Master asked, a displeasure look in his eyes.

Evadorus back up a few steps with a gulp of nervousness, he knew he was in trouble. As his master's gaze continued to wither into him, so did the young earth dragon's confidence. "M-Master," he stammered, before gulping again. "I-I d-don't have much t-to report to you about the match, sir."

The Dark Master's eyes instantly narrowed onto the smaller dragon. "Did you miss the match?"

Evadorus quickly shook his head. "No master, it's just…" the earth dragon trailed off as he thought through how to put the sentence.

"Just what!" Malefor demanded impatiently.

"They didn't seem that impressive master," he countered. "The entire fight was of dodging and counter-attacking, they had no battle-style that wasn't out of the usual."

The Dark Master's eyes began to narrow further. "That's what they want you to see you fool. Has it ever occurred to you that the two were _holding back_!" he stated, emphasizing the last two words.

Evadorus stumbled backwards a few more steps, it was true, the earth dragon never thought the two dragons were not giving the match their full strength. "I'm sorry master," he stated, bowing his head apolitically. "I should have thought it through some more."

"It better not happen again," Malefor stated, eyes filled with displeasure. "Do you have anything else to report to me?"

Evadorus quickly shook his head,

With a quick nod, The Dark Master turned around and walked away. "Don't disappoint me next time young dragon," he said as he got out of the earth dragon's view, leaving him to stand, staring blankly at the spot where his master just left.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Evadorus let out an angry snarl, he slammed his head against a nearby wall in frustration. _IDOIT!_ He screamed in his mind. How could you not think it through? The earth dragon quickly turned around and ran. Again, he was met with darkness, blinding him and making him crash into the sides of the cavern yet again.

A few seconds afterwards the earth dragon finally burst through the entrance to the cave, blinding the earth dragon by the sudden difference in light. He pulled a wing over his head to shade out the light. After a few seconds, the glare faded and the earth dragon withdrew his wing. Instantly, his eyes were attracted to the several cuts that were over his body, he guessed it was from the amount of crashes he sustained on his run out of the cavern.

With a dejected sigh, the earth dragon fell to his haunches in exhaustion. He had just managed to embarrass himself in front of his master and look extremely dumb. But he wasn't worried about that, he was more worried about how he can gain his master's trust back.

A sudden movement caught the earth dragons eye before he looked up, eyes widening in pure surprise. In front of him Flare was flying over and seemingly didn't even notice the surprised earth dragon as he soared past. Instantly, the earth dragon got to his feet and followed the red dragon. _This is my chance to win back master's trust_, he thought as he flew after the unaware red dragon…

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><p><strong>Again sorry for the wait and sorry for the small chapter. Nothing seemed to go my way the entire time and this is kinda how it worked out, sorry.<strong>

**Thanks again reviewers, awesome is an understatement but you're awesome.**

**Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long and would be better and longer. So until then...**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thought you saw the last of me? Sorry about this wait, I lost my inspiration for the entire story at the last bit of this chapter. D: Well, I won't keep you waiting any longer, read on!**

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><p>Flare slowly made his way down the longest street of Warfang, eyes casted downwards towards his talons and thinking only one thought. Who's voice was that?<p>

The voice that said 'you won't survive' could have been anyone. The red dragon couldn't even make out a trace of it because of the way it was said…and that it also was distorted horribly.

The young dragon looked up for a split second to see that he was walking into a section of the massive city, one that he has never been in. A smile of eagerness crossed his muzzle before he ran further down the street.

As the red dragon continued to run, he crossed many buildings that were coloured in a more darker tint than the ones on the other side of the street, which actually made him confused, but with a shrug he continued his jog.

After a few seconds, the red dragon skidded to a halt, eyes widening as he took in the area in front of him. _How could I miss this?_ He thought, as his eyes scanned. To put it blankly in his mind, it was a park…a _massive_ park. Flare guessed it was the size of two temples length and width. Inside the perimeter were dozens of trees, all were different colors and species, making the park look like a colorful wonderland.

The sight was breathtaking for the red dragon, he always loved nature but to see such a large amount of it, in a city was amazing. Quietly, he jogged up to the large area and continued past a romantic couple who were sitting under a rather colorful tree with a smile.

_I wonder if Spyro and Cynder know about this place?_ The red dragon wondered as he continued to make his way under the large plants. He stopped when he came across a small, growing tree, that reached to the base of his neck. He peered closer to the small tree, the bark on it was rather bland grey than the usual brown bark that the red dragon was used to.

"That small tree there is named Eucalyptus delegatensis or Alpine Ash or Gum-topped stringybark or even White-top," a voiced stated evenly, startling Flare.

The red dragon whipped around to see a young earth dragoness behind him, a good metre away. The dragoness was shorter then Flare by an inch and had a huge club at the end of his tail, which was accustom to all earth dragoness.

A small, shy smile spread across the dragoness' muzzle before she walked closer to the younger dragon. "Excuse my impoliteness," she apologized, bringing herself to a halted an inch away from red dragon's muzzle, way too close for Flare's liking.

The earth dragoness gave another shy smile and kicked the ground nervously, Flare noticed the odd action at the side of his eye.

_Why is she nervous?_ He wondered, giving the dragoness a confused look.

"My name is Trema, but most call me Terra," she introduced, seemingly haven't noticed the other dragon's stare.

Flare stumbled back a few steps, giving him enough space so he can breathe. "That's a nice name, mine's Flare," he replied with a forced smile after he managed to get the distance between the two to half a metre.

Terra took a step closer, eyes flashing with a sudden eagerness. "Oh hi Flare, say why aren't you in school today?"

Flare glared at the opposing dragon. "I've got my reasons," he snarled, suddenly defensive,

A shocked look spread across Terra's face before she took a step back.

The action made Flare feel guilty as he turned to the ground, he was never meant to say that like…_that_. Just that it was none of her business. He turned back up to see the earth dragoness a few metres away and still slowly backing away.

"I'm sorry!" The red dragon managed to blurt out before Terra turned tail and ran. As the earth dragoness got further and further away, Flare turned to the ground again, still guilty. "I'm sorry," he repeated, turning back to the growing tree, that was now an inch from the red dragon.

Flare allowed his eyes to slowly drag from the top of the plant to the bottom, carefully examining every little detail. "So this plant is called Alpine Ash," the red dragon muttered, forgetting the other names Terra told him.

The thought of the earth dragoness brought another wave of bitterness to wash over him. Suddenly, the red dragon found that his thoughts were being drawn to the dragoness and how the encounter.

True, Flare can admit that he completely overreacted to a simple question, but the red dragon couldn't help but wonder how she approached him. Their muzzles were almost _touching!_ A wave of uneasiness came over the young dragon as the thought came back to him. He was no fool, that dragoness fell for him, to put it blandly.

A sigh escaped, his maw before looking himself over. _Why would she fall for me?_ He wondered, remembering the scar that was over his right eye, that mark was anything but _cute_. Another thought wriggled itself into the red dragon's mind, one that set his anger off, again. _Or she could be wanting to use me to get close to Spyro_, he thought bitterly, scales slightly darkening.

He turned back to the direction where Terra ran off as his scales continued to darken. Now it didn't feel bad at all, seeing the earth dragoness run away, he wanted to see it again. He wanted to see her blood, get revenge on what she planned to do, see he suffer, see her limb body.

The red dragon's eyes widened in horror before his scales returned to their normal color, a crimson red. _No,_ he thought in horror. How could he think such a thing? He shook his head as a tear escaped his eye. _No, no, no! I'm a monster!_

The red dragon quickly turned away and took off running, as more tears escaped his eyes. A swell of guilt and fear began to collect in the red dragon's heart as he grew further and further away from the park. He drew to a halt halfway down the street, he needed to get away, get away from everywhere, everyone, everything. He needed time to think, alone time. But where could he go?

The question came to the red dragon unexpectedly, before he took off again. The answer came to him at full force a few seconds later, as the red dragon narrowly dodged a passing fire dragoness.

With a new destination in his head, the red dragon quickly took flight. His destination was further away than he would've liked but it was the only area he could have private time. With a sigh, he quickly changed the direction he was flying, before he could leave he had to do something.

After a few seconds, the red dragon landed with a thud outside a massive building. He hurriedly ran into the house and after another few seconds, he was in front of his chamber. With another sigh, Flare used a forepaw to push the door open. With a startling creak, the door slowly swung open. The red dragon entered the room, only to be welcomed by a blinding red-tinted light. He turned his gaze up to 'the window', a longing feeling to reach up and touch it soon filled the red dragon.

Flare snapped out of the trance seconds after, suddenly remembering his mission. With another sigh, the red dragon turned to the bookcase that was in his room. After hesitating briefly, he walked silently over to the object. The bookcase had three shelves to it, the two tallest were filled to the brim with massive books which Flare barely read. The last was filled with a large amount of parchment, in case Flare needed to write something. This was one of the times he did.

Hastily, he began to collect an amount of parchment. After the red dragon had an average amount of the paper, he staggered to his bed on three paws, one holding the parchment. A muffled sigh escaped the red dragon's maw as he place the thin material down on his bed. Without wasting another second, he turned around again and began to make his way to the bookcase again. As he stopped in front of it again, he tilted his head up and caught sight of his objective. I feather dipped in ink.

A scowl instantly found itself onto his muzzle as he figured out that it was on top of the bookcase. _Who would keep that up there?_ He wondered as he continued to gaze at the immobile object. After a second of thought, the red dragon placed a paw onto the bookcase. Instantly, it began to wobble, causing some of the ink to spill, one drop even got onto the red dragon's muzzle.

With a tired groan, he wiped it off with the back of his forepaw, before returning his gaze to his mission once again. Normally, if he was in a situation like this, the red dragon would have quickly flown up and grabbed it with a forepaw, but the chances of doing that indoors was highly unlikely.

_What can I do?_ He wondered as he turned his gaze away from the jar which held the ink, to his talons. By now, the red dragon was completely flabbergasted, how could one jar of ink cause so much trouble? Out of pure boredom, he allowed his eyes to drag itself across his room. A second later, the red dragon did a double-take when he passed his bed, before peering closer to what caught his eye.

_A ladder?_ He wondered, greatly surprised. What was a wooden ladder doing in his room? The red dragon didn't have to think long before an idea hit him. After pausing briefly, he quickly moved to the ladder and lifted it up with a forepaw. The object was far heavier then the red dragon suspected.

After a few pained groans and loud sounds of wood hitting stone, he finally leant the large wooden object against the wall beside his bookcase. When the red dragon took a couple of steps back to catch his breath, the insanity of what he was planning to do finally hit him. The wooden ladders were made for moles not dragons, it could break right under him.

The thought of calling for help reached the red dragon's mind, but he quickly smothered it with his pride. _The_ _legendary Spyro's youngest brother gets defeated by an ink jar, what a joke,_ he thought bitterly, turning back to the ladder. He knew how to use this, he'd seen moles use it every time, but to think he'd finally have to, it was…weird.

With another quick pause, the red dragon lay his right forepaw atop the first step of the ladder. With a gulp, he lay his other forepaw on the next step, the red dragon used his hind legs to push his forepaws even higher and reached the fourth or fifth step. Now was the hard part, he hugged the ladder with his two forepaws and took his hind legs off the ground and onto the next step.

The red dragon could've sworn that the ladder groaned under his weight. Another step, beads of sweat rolled down his muzzle and onto his right forepaw, not helping him to grip the steps. He was a few steps from the top, if only he could skip a few.

That's when he realized, he could easily lean over and grab the ink jar. A sigh of relief escaped his maw as he retrieved his prize. The red dragon quickly spread his wings and flapped down with the ink jar between his talons. He didn't waste any time, when he got to his bed to quickly scribble down his message.

After rolling the parchment up, lacing a band over it and placing the ink jar where he could easily reach it, the red dragon placed his note beside he bed, where he was certain Spyro would find it. After taking a final glance at his room, the red dragon headed out.

A minute later, he found himself outside his home, an eager smile across his muzzle. With two flaps of his wings, he was in the air. By now the sun was setting, casting the world bellow with an orangey tint as it continued to set. School would be ending soon, which immediately set the red dragon in a more hurried pace.

The rest of the flight was uneventful; the red dragon quickly flew over the rocky mountains which divided Warfang from Avalar. He didn't look bellow as he passed over the rocky area; there were not much to see after all, just mountains. Soon, the sun was below the horizon, casting the red dragon into darkness.

As the wind continued to whip across his muzzle, the voice came back to the relaxed red dragon. His muzzle scrunched into one of deep anger, why couldn't this leave him? Again, the voice came, louder than the last.

He let out a tired groan as he focused onto getting to the cheetah village, trying to ignore the continuous repetition of 'the voice'. Minutes passed as the mountains began to thin out, leaving the more appealing grassland of Avalar.

A delighted grin came to the red dragon's muzzle as he finally caught sight of his objective; the cheetah village. But as the red dragon closed in, the smile left, leaving a horror-filled expression over his face.

The village was in runes! From the distance he was in, the red dragon could hardly make out anything except that the buildings were alight. A sudden wave of urgency flooded over the red dragon before he landed on one of the nearby clearings silently, questions flooding into his mind.

From where he had landed, Flare as a good three hundred metres from the cheetah village. Large undergrowth prevented any real sighting of him before he was very close, this place was an attack waiting to happen.

The red dragon sprinted down, towards the village and his answers. The cheetahs seemed to have heard him because a few seconds later when he burst out of the undergrowth he had stop immediately before he got skewered by a well crafted spear.

The cheetah's expression changed from one of challenging to one of surprise. "A dragon?" he said surprised.

Flare merely nodded. "Yes, can you lead me into the village?" he asked, doubting the guard would say a yes.

As expected, the guard shook his head before gripping his spear tightly. "Chief Prowlus ordered me to not allow anyone into the village," the cat's eyes narrow slightly. "And I plan to listen to that order."

An unexpected sigh escaped from Flare's maw. "Please, I come in no harm. I just saw your village burning from the sky and I just wanted to see if you needed any help."

The cheetah's gaze softened a bit, before it instantly hardened again. "How do I know you're not lying?" he asked, jabbing the spear closer to the small dragon.

Flare didn't flinch a scale. "Is Hunter in the village?" he asked, earning himself a suspicious glare from the cat.

"Yes, why?"

Flare turned away and stared at a tree that looked strangely similar to the Alpine Ash, instantly reminding him of Terra. With a quick shake of his head, he turned back to the questioning looking cheetah. "Tell him that my name is Flare."

Another confused look came over the cheetah guards face before his turned around and began to run off. He stopped a foot from where he was to turn back to the dragon. "How do I know you won't enter the village?"

The way this cheetah kept asking question annoyed Flare, a lot. But he allowed his anger to fade with another sigh. "Call it a dragon's oath," he answered with a small smile.

The cheetah guard looked far from convinced from the answer he got, but thankfully left without another word.

The red dragon quickly turned back to the tree, remembering the events that happened a few hours ago again. _She didn't deserve that_, he thought, as the words he said at the time came back to him.

_I have my reasons_. Now that he thought about it, the words he said weren't all that horrible but the way he said it, it didn't even sound like him.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of paws hitting the hard dirt. Quickly, the red dragon turned to see Hunter running towards him, the cheetah guard closely following. The two cheetahs stopped a few metres from the red dragon, as if they were scared of him. The red dragon quickly shook his head to clear his head of the thoughts, before he stepped closer to the other two.

The expression on Hunter's face was unreadable, like always, as he met the young dragon halfway. "Flare, what are you doing here at night?" he asked, knelling on one leg to lower himself to the dragon's height.

Flare scowled slightly at the welcoming, it wasn't a 'hello' but he decided to let it slide. A dark looked crossed his face as he stared back at the cheetah. "I was flying over the mountains to have a surprise visit on you guys until…" he lied, fading off.

Hunter nodded in reply. "Yes of course," he said simply, motioning for the young dragon to enter the village.

Flare took the opportunity gratefully, before he stepped past the cheetah guard who returned to his post. Another dark look crossed the red dragon's features as he strode into the village of cheetahs, the houses around him were either still burning or burnt to a crisp. Beside each building were cheetahs gathering wood, animal hide and other resources, all were trying their best to rebuild.

The red dragon wasn't new to these scenarios, in fact he's been in many. In the year when Malefor was his master, The Dark Master would've sometimes ordered Flare's darker half to take out entire villages in the blink of an eyes. Set another creature's home alight because he found it enjoyable to watch.

Almost every time there were soldiers in each village, soldiers that stood no chance against a blood-thirsty teenage dragon, as the real Flare watched through his own eyes what he was doing, causing suffering…pain…death.

"Flare?" Hunter stated, breaking the young, red dragon out of his trance.

He quickly shook his head to clear all thoughts of his past out of his head. "Y-Yeah?" he stammered, quickly turning to the golden cheetah who had a suspicious look in his eye.

All the cheetah did was turn back in front of them before suddenly stopping. "We're here."

Flare came to a startling halt seconds after, before quickly turning around and catching sight of a building which was still in one piece, the size of it was rather massive, the red dragon guessed that half the actual village could fit into the massive area. The sight was strangely calming for the red dragon, _at least one building survived_, he thought as Hunter began to walk again, with the red dragon on his heels.

As soon as he entered, he was hit with the aroma of cooking meat, which filled the red dragon's nostrils, before his stomach suddenly growled loudly. He held his gut instantly with a forepaw, as the feeling of hunger continued to barrel itself into him. The red dragon suddenly felt eyes on him, before he turned to Hunter to see him grinning happily at him. He felt his cheeks brighten up in embarrassment as the golden cheetah chuckled.

"Looks like our guest hasn't eaten yet," he stated, the smile still there.

Flare turned away bashfully, only then did he take in that building they were in was heavily decorated with beads of small gems and the often animal hide. _Where are we?_ He wondered as his eyes gazed onto a large, heavy-looking animal hide jacket armor.

Hunter seemed to have noticed Flare's confused gaze, because a second later he announced. "We are in Chief Prowlus' house," he turned to the small dragon next to him before looking in front of him. "Only those most high-ranked can enter this area," he began to walk down the narrow hallway.

Flare quickly followed silently. Up ahead, the red dragon could hear the sounds of a very private conversation, he knew it was private because the voices were hushed. Instantly, the red dragon suddenly felt nervous, this was Prowlus he was going to interrupt during a meeting, Prowlus, that'd he have tell that he actually snuck out of Warfang just to get some alone time, which didn't seem to happen anytime soon.

The red dragon turned an inquisitive gaze to the golden cheetah next to him as a question came to his mind. Why is _Hunter guiding me to Prowlus?_ He wondered, as the voices continued to grow louder. _It's not like I can do anything for the village_, he turned back in front of him as they approached a beaded curtain.

Hunter withdrew a paw and drew it open, before motioning to the young dragon next to him to enter. Flare nodded as thanks before entering the rather narrow opening. The scene he saw before him didn't help the dragon's confidence much. There were three cheetahs, all sitting in a large circular room, around a fire with a slow cooking piece of meat over it. Again, this room was heavily decorated with beads and other animal hide, but right now the red dragon couldn't care less, all the cheetahs where staring at him!

Flare quickly turned around to see if Hunter followed, to his horror he didn't. He quickly turned around back to the middle cheetah, the one that the red dragon recognized as Prowlus. By now, the red dragon was so nervous that he felt like just running out of that area and never going back, but with another sigh to calm his emotions, he turned to his talons nervously.

The room was silent for a few seconds, the red dragon couldn't see what expressions the opposing cheetahs had but he was sure Prowlus was angry. A quick look up was all he needed to get his answer.

The Chief had an icy glare aiming straight at the young, red dragon, his features was scrunched up in a deep scowl as four words left his mouth. "Why are _you_ here?" he asked, deathly quietly.

Flare was caught by surprised by the sheer intensity of the chief's voice, though it was quiet. The words that Prowlus asked didn't fully process in the red dragon's mind for a few seconds, numbed by the fear that was steadily growing inside him. When the numbness wore off, he stood up as tall as he could to try help his confidence.

It didn't work.

Prowlus' icy glare seemed to penetrate and destroy any amount of confidence the red dragon had left. No matter how many times he tried to say it, it just wouldn't come out.

"I'm waiting…" the chief growled impatiently.

Another jolt of fear flooded through the red dragon as he met the chief's icy gaze. The temptation to suddenly scream out "if you want me to talk, STOP GLARING AT ME!" was overwhelming. But fear and the little amount of confidence left stopped him from making such a bold move.

Flare swallowed nervously. "I don't know," he finally replied nervously.

The answer seemed to ignite all the anger inside of the chief in that instant as he stood up and stomped up to the dragon until he was barely half a metre away from Flare, too close for his liking. "What do you mean!" he roared, almost destroying the red dragon's eardrums.

Flare backed away a few steps by the sheer fierceness in the cheetah's voice, but half a second later, anger began to swell up inside of him, as he took a step forward.

"I landed when I saw your village in a burning heap!" he growled, anger flashing in his eyes. "I wanted to know what happened, so Hunter lead me here. The cheetah…" the red dragon left the sentence to hang in the air as he turned around to the curtain where he came from. "Who didn't follow me in here?" the sentence was directed to the golden cheetah behind the curtain who Flare knew was hearing every word.

An awkward silence descended upon the four in the room, a few seconds later a golden cheetah entered through the beaded curtain, padding as silent as the wind outside.

Flare let out a sigh to calm his nerves as the cheetah strode towards the group. Deep down inside the red dragon, he was hating Hunter for what he just did, hating him for what _almost_ happened. What was he going to achieve by leaving him alone with the one cheetah who absolutely hated his species!

Prowlus turned his heated gaze to his highest ranked warrior. "Elaborate Hunter, why did you bring this…_dragon_, into my home during a very important meeting?" he asked, saying the word 'dragon' in disgust.

Flare easily picked up on it, but quickly ignored it with a quick shake of his head. Why should he listen to him anyway, holding a grudge against a whole species just because one started a massive war that lasted for a thousand years and killed many lives?

Hunter stepped forward and instantly met the chief's gaze. "Prowlus, this young dragon was just seeking answers. I just thought you should be the one to tell him because you are the one most informed," the cheetah's eyes then narrowed a bit. "Don't forget the thing they did for us those many years ago."

The mention of the last sentence seemed to make the chief shudder a bit, instantly reminding Flare of the event and also sparking a small smile inside of him. _I almost forgot about that event… _the red dragon thought as he gazed from Prowlus to Hunter. The red dragon found it extremely intriguing how the golden cheetah brought it into the subject.

When a sigh reached his ears, the red dragon turned back to Prowlus, the one who sighed. The chief held up a paw to tell Flare to come closer.

The red dragon followed obediently, hardly even stammering, even though he felt inside as scared as ever. I small part of him was disgusted by the way he was submitting to a cheetah, _one _cheetah_, _while the other, larger part, wanted to turn tail and run out of there.

He stopped in front of the fire, gazing deeply into its bright core. The flames mesmerized the young dragon for a few seconds before Prowlus's voice broke into his thoughts.

"So you seek answers, _dragon_?" he asked, again speaking the word 'dragon' in disgust.

Flare sharply nodded his head, still looking into the mesmerizing flames as it licked his scales, somehow not inciting pain. But for some reason, the red dragon couldn't take his eyes off the flickering flame, his body felt calm, he felt that he knew everything around him, he could feel the way Prowlus didn't want to tell what happened to the village. He also felt that nothing could break his gaze from the glowing heat in front of him.

He was wrong.

I second later, the same cheetah guard ran into the room rather rashly. Flare didn't take his gaze off the flame in front of him as Prowlus stood up as the guard approached him, an angry look over his features.

"What is the meaning of this!" he asked, his icy glare staring down at his own guard.

"Ch-Chief Prowlus," the guard stated shakily. "W-We've got three dragons just outside that are waiting f-for you."

The statement caught Flare by complete surprise as he finally looked away from the flame and onto the cheetah guard, an inquisitive look over his muzzle.

Likewise Prowlus seemed less than impressed by the statement as a snarl escaped his maw. "Why do you allow them to enter the village, without informing Hunter or I?" he asked, the anger not leaving his voice.

The cheetah guard flinched a bit from the intensity of the chief's voice; a hesitant step backwards acknowledged that he indeed felt scared.

"Prowlus, I tried to tell them to wait, but they insisted to enter," he answered almost weakly.

The chief cheetah didn't seem to be happy with the answer, because the intense glare kept its sturdy hold on his features. Flare flinched a bit as Prowlus' fur began to stand on end, making him look twice as large. Now the part of the red dragon that thought that this cheetah was like all others, seemed less confident.

"Flare, I know you're in there!" a voice suddenly shouted from outside, breaking the deathly silence.

Flare turned his head quickly in the direction of the voice, eyes widened in surprise as a feeling of fear crept its way into his heart. He recognized that voice. He didn't want to, but he did.

A tired groan left the red dragon's maw as he got to his feet slowly. "It's for me," he stated to the cheetahs in the room before silently opening the beaded curtain with a wing and exiting.

_How did they get here so fast?_ He wondered in his head as he began his small walk to the outside world.

Shortly after, he was outside in the fresh air, the only light coming from a few bonfires beside him and the full moon above. In front of the red dragon were a purple dragon, a black dragoness and a rather outraged-looking blue dragon all standing side-by-side and staring at Flare inquisitively.

The red dragon kicked a nearby pebble nervously as the other three dragons continued to stare. After taking a deep breath to calm his senses, Flare looked back up to the opposing dragons.

"I bet you want to know why I came here," he stated blandly, a small apologizing smile crossing his muzzle.

"Later," Spyro said, waved a dismissive paw before walking past his youngest brother silently. "For now I've got to know what happened here."

Cynder quickly followed after her mate, only giving a small, fleeting smile as she passed Flare, which the red dragon gladly returned. Cavice, on the other hand didn't make any eye contact with his younger brother and just roughly pushed passed him without a word.

Flare couldn't stop the small, dejected sigh that escaped his maw, he knew he didn't have even the worst of his blue brother's attitude yet. Feeling rather deflated, the red dragon rushed back into Prowlus' home and after his companions.

As he entered the room again through the beaded curtain, his eyes darted straight to the other three dragons that were around the fire. Spyro and Cynder were exchanging a light conversation with Hunter, but Cavice was just staring blankly at the surrounding decorations around the room. As silently as he could be, the red dragon padded his way back to his original position, before the other dragons arrived and turned to Prowlus again.

A look of shock had entered the chief cheetah's features as he changed his gaze from Spyro, to Cynder, to Cavice and finally to Flare. When the red dragon met the cheetah's eyes there was one emotion that was clear. Anger.

Flare gulped nervously before diverting his gaze away from the chief and back to the fire. For an unknown reason, this fire seemed to draw all his attention away from the other creatures around it and only onto the soft glow it gave.

The more the red dragon stared at it the more it seemed to be alive. It seemed almost as if it was just going to come alive and surround him in its warm heat. Suddenly, there was a glimpse of green inside the glowing flame, startling Flare.

The red dragon stumbled back a step, catching the attention of Cavice, who was sitting quietly on the other side of the fire.

"What's the matter?" he asked inquisitively, as he fixed his younger brother in his gaze.

Flare didn't even turn to the blue dragon, just kept staring at the fire in front of him, searching for that glimpse of green he just saw. He could swear that it wasn't his imagination.

He didn't know how long he was searching for but when he turned his eyes to Cavice, he had already turned away, a distant look in his eyes.

The red dragon was about to call his brother, but at that moment a growl interrupted him. Flare recognized who it was instantly, as he turned to Prowlus, who had an enraged look over his features. But to be truthful, Flare couldn't blame him, he knew the cheetah disliked dragons and to see four in his house must really anger the chief.

Suddenly, the chief cheetah turned a heated glare at the red dragon, startling him. In that split second, Flare thought that the chief would actually attack him. To his delight and surprise, he didn't. Instead, the cheetah just took in a deep breath and let it out, letting out a long, deep sigh, before walking up to the young dragon.

"I should've expected this much from a dragon," he muttered sourly, crossing his hands across his chest as he said it. "When you allow one to enter, they all come."

Flare just mildly shrugged. "That can go your way as well," he stated smugly, a deep grin crawling onto his muzzle.

The cheetah chief shot the dragon a fierce glare. "What!"

"Hey, hey take it easy, it was only a joke," Flare waved a dismissive paw as if the head cheetah didn't even shout.

Prowlus' glare seemed to wither under the innocent response Flare just gave, before he turned away.

"You wouldn't feel so cheerful if you have suffered what we just did," he mumbled, barely audible.

The room suddenly fell quiet, as if the entire room had heard what the cheetah chief had just said and was waiting for him to continue.

A small smile found itself on Flare's muzzle when he realized this, it was somewhat amusing. Another sigh from Prowlus brought the red dragon's attention back to the matter at hand.

"You promise me that you'd tell your guardians the information I'm going to tell you?" he asked, turning to Spyro.

The purple dragon nodded immediately, not taking a second to think.

Prowlus seemed to flinch at how quickly the dragon nodded, but resently, the chief cheetah made his way to his original position around the fire, on the other side of the flame of Flare. The room was filled with the noise of paws hitting the hard dirt shortly after as everyone in the room went to move around the fire.

Flare made his way back to his original position but didn't even look at the flame this time, still feeling a bit confused about the bazaar colour in the fire. But after pushing it to the back of his mind, he turned to Prowlus.

"Now," he began before taking in a deep breath. "Shortly before the arrival of the first dragon, the village was attacked by a small group of grublins. When I went out to face off against these tyrants, I noticed that they weren't aiming for my men, but on our homes. After a few minutes, they retreated, leaving most of our homes in runes and without a place to sleep," he concluded, sweeping his gaze to each dragon.

Flare met Cavice's gaze. A silent message passed between the two before the blue dragon nodded. There was only one fiend that would plan an attack on a harmless village of cheetahs and both brothers knew who it was.

"If I could put my thoughts into this discussion," Cavice stated politely as he got to his feet slowly. He turned his gaze from Prowlus to his younger brother. "My best guess is that this attack was arranged by Malefor himself."

"Why?" Hunter asked, giving the blue dragon a look that seemed far from satisfied from the information he was getting.

"Because the cheetahs are the dragons' allies," Spyro interrupted bitterly, turning his gaze from Hunter to Flare. "You were thinking the same thing, weren't you?"

Flare simply nodded before turning to Prowlus to see the chief's reaction.

Strangely, it was calm and collected, a quality that Flare hasn't seen too often. Suddenly, the chief cheetah stood up and stared bitterly at Spyro.

"So we got attacked because he wanted to weaken your forces and have a better chance to take your city?" he asked, the dread thick in his voice.

Spyro nodded simply before turning his gaze down into the flame.

"No, I think there is more to it," Cynder stated, turning her gaze from Spyro to Prowlus. "Don't forget, the grublins didn't kill anyone in the village. If Malefor wanted to take out Warfang's allies, he could've easily wiped out everyone in your village without breaking a sweat.

The last comment seemed to ignite more anger from Prowlus as the look of deep anger got to his features. "We are not useless, dragon," he snarled.

"No, Cynder's right," Flare interrupted as he shook his head slowly. "If he wanted this place wiped out, he would've sent a massive group to do so," he turned to Cynder. "He could destroy the entire valley with only half of his army, but that he hadn't is pretty disturbing."

Suddenly, Prowlus angrily got to his feet and stomped up to the red dragon. "And how you know this, dragon?"

Flare could easily detect the suspicious note in the chief cheetah's voice, which annoyed him further. Why did this one cheetah have to be so, so…different? Why did he always have to be on _his_ back? Why did he want _him_ off _his_ back, he hadn't even done anything wrong.

The more the red dragon thought of it, the more it angered him. With a sigh, he got to his feet and turned to walk out of the house but a voice stopped him.

"Flare, what are you doing?" It was Spyro.

_Why did Spyro have to be so caring? _He wondered bitterly, before turning around to face the purple dragon.

"I want to get away from him," he stated, pointing at Prowlus with a wing. "He has always been on my back since I've came here," he then glared at the cheetah chief who still hadn't moved from his spot. "So now I'm going, happy!" he snarled to the chief before he quickly ran out of that house as fast as his legs could carry him.

He burst out of the building seconds after and was met with the cool breeze of Avalar. The breeze did little to calm the already raging red dragon as he ran through the village, startling many cheetahs, making them yelp in surprise.

But he couldn't care less, they were _all_ the same, who cares if they get slaughtered by the grublins, who cares if Malefor did something worse than death to them. After all, they wouldn't care if the dragons were the ones getting slaughtered. A flash of darkness came over the red dragon's scales before it returned back to its crimson red.

The frail-looking gates of the cheetah village came into the red dragon's view. With two flaps of his golden wings, Flare was in the air, gusts of wind whipped across his muzzle, doing extremely little to slow him down as he brushed over the gates and took off higher in the sky.

Up here, there was a strong turbulence. The fierce winds whipped against the red dragon, slowing the flight down majorly. But he couldn't care less about it; his mind was set on one thing. What did he do to Prowlus do make him so angry with him?

Another flash of dark red.

The red dragon began to descend when the feeling in his wings began to grow numb. The instant he landed, he fell to the cool grass, tears pouring out of his eyes.

"Prowlus you idiot, what did I do to you?" he cried between sobs.

He didn't know how long he was there crying in the silence, but after a few minutes - what he thought were minutes – he stopped and instead allowed his eyes to drag along the scenery around him. He had landed in a tall, stray patch of grass. Tall, healthy trees grew around with a few ripe fruit grew in them.

With a sigh, the red dragon lay his head on the back of his paws and closed his eyes, listening to the wind around and the peaceful silence around him. Flare liked the silence, he hated being in busy, tight cities with too much noise in them.

As the minutes went by, the wind around him continued to blow, seemingly getting stronger by the second as he sat in the silence. After a few more minutes a spot of moisture fell on the red dragon's head, making him turn up towards the sky, startled.

It didn't take the red dragon a long time to notice the grey clouds above him, the indication that a storm was coming and judging from how dark they were, very soon. The thought didn't seem to lighten the red dragon's mood a bit; it seemed like the clouds above even wanted to show his despair to the outer world.

Another drop of rain managed to make itself onto his muzzle again. Annoyed, he used the back of his paw to rub the drop of water off, a second before another drop fell onto that same place that he just wiped.

The red dragon let out a depressing sigh as he lay his head in his paws again, far too annoyed to do anything else. That was how he was for what seemed like hours, simply allowing the rain to drench him and fill him with its cold temperature. The wind also whipped up, chilling him to the bone and making the many droplets of water feel like ice.

But even through all this, Flare had his mind still on the incident with Prowlus. It seemed to stick to his mind and never want to let go, it was haunting.

Suddenly, the red dragon was aware of the soft sound of wing beats – which was barely audible over the now-raging storm –and turned up to catch sight of a black dragoness slowly descending towards him, a look of worry over her muzzle.

A small sigh escaped his lips as the dragoness landed silently beside him. The last thing Flare wanted right now was company.

"What do you want Cynder?" he growled gruffly, the feeling of anger still not completely settled in.

If the black dragoness was surprised by the way the way the red dragon said it, she didn't show it. "We want you to return, Flare," she answered sternly.

Flare snorted as he got to his feet. "To the cheetah village? Don't make me laugh," he snarled challengingly, taking a step closer to Cynder, eyes narrowed all-the-while. "After they literally kicked me out of that place, I wouldn't even want to return."

"They didn't kick you out!" Cynder retorted loudly, voice full of surprise.

Flare rolled his eyes. "Don't start with all that crap, Cynder. Prowlus made it pretty much clear that he never wanted to see me again, no matter the consequences."

The statement seemed to take the black dragoness by surprise, because she back away a few step from what could have only been confusion.

"Just because Prowlus hates you doesn't mean every cheetah in the entire world does the same," she stated more even than she looked.

Cynder's comment didn't even reassure Flare a bit, even though, deep inside he knew that the black dragoness was right. But at this moment, anger blurred his vision from seeing that way.

A small growled rumbled at the back of the red dragon's throat as he looked Cynder deep into the eyes.

"Are you siding with the cheetahs?" he asked, the anger evident in his voice.

Again, Cynder stammered back a few paces as the question took her by surprise. "What?"

"Are you siding with the cheetah?" Flare repeated, anger growing by the second as he turned away to gaze at a soaked tree to his left.

_Why am I so angry?_ A small part of the red dragon wondered as Cynder continued to stammer. Of course this small part was overruled by the enraged, larger section of him.

"Flare, I'm not siding with anyone," Cynder answered quietly.

Suddenly, Flare felt a deep anger flare up inside of him as he turned to Cynder. Gradually, the vision of the black dragoness seemed to blur up and fade until the red dragon's vision faded to nothing but black. It confused him deeply, he didn't remember closing his eyes? Only then did he hear two words that sounded a lot like his voice and yet it also seemed somewhat…distorted.

"…Wrong answer"

*.*.*

Standing on a high hill that towered over the Valley of Avalar, a purple dragon had a worried look had already found its way onto his muzzle as he paced back and forth, checking the valley below him ever-so-often.

Spyro knew that a massive storm was coming; he could smell the moister in the air as the grey clouds above moved closer. But he wasn't worried about it; he knew that he, Cavice and the cheetahs could easily ride out the storm, hopefully unscathed.

What he _was_ worried about though, was his most beloved dragoness had just left him, going out to look for his youngest brother. Of course the purple dragon persisted, but was quickly turned down when Cynder flew away, a reassuring smile spread across her muzzle.

That all happened a few minutes before the storm came. Now, Spyro desperately wanted fly straight in the direction where the black dragoness, but found himself pacing restlessly instead, waiting for his dragoness to return**.**

A sudden sound of a twig snapping behind him brought the purple dragon's attention away from the valley below and onto the few bushes behind him, muscles tensed, body posed for a battle. Only then did he recognize the young blue dragon he was now facing and allowed his body to relax.

"Cavice?" Spyro asked slowly before turning back to the valley.

The opposing, smaller dragon slowly walked to his elder brother, keeping a steady gaze on the purple dragon as he continued to pace in front of him, he muzzle in an unreadable expression.

"I thought you might want some company," he answered steadily, before sitting down a metre away from the purple dragon and silently watching his elder brother pace.

A small sigh of relief escaped the purple dragon's maw as a small smile found itself on his muzzle. How did this dragon know him so well? They've only known each other for a few battle-filled weeks and every time there wasn't a battle, the two were separated from each other because of classes. So how?

_Would he understand how I'm feeling? _He wondered, taking a quick glance at the smaller dragon who now had followed his gaze down to the valley.

"Spyro," he suddenly called, bringing Spyro back to reality. "I know how you feel about Cynder, but pacing restlessly won't accomplish anything," he stated, turning his head towards the purple dragon, the same unreadable expression plastered over his muzzle.

Spyro felt his gaze drag back to the valley. Yes, he knew his brother was right, he knew it from the first time he came up, but despite his best efforts, the worrying feeling that Cynder was in trouble couldn't leave him.

"Cynder is more than capable to take care of herself, Spyro. She is one of the strongest dragoness' in the world, I would think she could handle any animal in this valley and with Flare probably by her side, she's as safe as the civilians inside Warfang," Cavice stated, his voice full of confidence as his gaze dragged back to the valley. "I'm sure she's safe, Spyro."

Spyro could feel all his worry disappear as he pondered what his younger brother just said. Again, Cavice was right. Spyro knew better than anyone that fact. She _had_ helped him defeat their most strongest foe – and the most powerful in the entire world - The Dark Master.

A muffled sigh escaped his maw again as he slowly got to his feet. "You're right Cavice," he stated, turning around to face the blue dragon behind him. "Come on, let's go back to the cheetah village, maybe they'd have something for us to do."

Cavice nodded once before he got to his feet.

With a nod, the purple dragon opened his golden wings and took to the air, closely followed by Cavice.

The flight took a few minutes because of the confusing gusts of wind that frequently took the two brothers further away from their destination then they would've like. But, eventually, they landed heavily on the damp earth inside the cheetah village.

Instantly, Spyro realized that there wasn't a cheetah in sight.

_They must've gone to Prowlus' because it's the most sturdy_, he thought as his gaze drifted to the remaining houses.

There definitely were more huts than last time he was here, but most looked fragile and also that they are on their last legs to even stand. The purple dragon guessed that the cheetahs were already rebuilding before the storm came and these were the finished results.

Despite the fact that they were definitely not house-worthy, Spyro had to admit that the cheetahs did a lot in the time when he was away. Most only needed roofs and a more sturdy structure. But despite this, there was an extremely high possibility that they were going to get blown down by the coming storm.

"They even made one for us," Cavice stated, walking to the purple dragon's side and pointing with a wing to the largest of the many huts.

This one was clearly made for dragons, because of the design was much different to the others. The other huts were much taller and skinnier then this one. The dragon hut had obviously had less work done into it, because it was only the structure that hadn't been covered in animal hide, it was literally a pile of standing sticks. But, thick rope tied the bottom of the hut down to the ground.

This instantly got Spyro's attention as he walked up to the structure.

Noticing that the purple dragon's gaze was on the rope, Cavice walked until he was beside his brother again. "I tied it down because I guessed that a storm was coming," he answered to his brother's silent question.

Spyro nodded and turned his attention to the largest building in the village, Prowlus' house.

"Let's go," he told the younger dragon as he walked slowly to the building.

When the two arrived, Spyro parted the beaded curtain with a wing and motioned for his younger brother to enter first.

A small smile of gratitude came to the younger dragon's muzzle before he nodded and entered.

Spyro followed instantly.

When the purple dragon entered, he was met with the same scent he smelt last time and the same colourful surroundings. But this time, the house was filled with voices of many cheetahs as they hid in the only building that's still standing upright in their entire village.

Spyro instantly felt sympathy for the cheetahs as he slowly made his way around them and forwards to the main room. How would he feel if Warfang was destroyed by a gust of wind?

Though the thought seemed extremely unlikely and unrealistic, it was definitely unsettling.

After a couple of minutes of carefully moving around the hiding cheetahs, the two dragons made their way closer to the main room. Here, the voices of the other cheetahs could hardly be heard.

Cavice parted the final beaded curtain with a wing and motioned for the purple dragon to enter first.

Unfortunately, Spyro couldn't enter as happily as Cavice did. Prowlus wasn't the same as every other cheetah in the village. _They_ didn't hold a grudge.

He gulped nervously as he entered the room. Instantly he took in that there were only two cheetahs in this room, Hunter and Prowlus. When the purple dragon saw Hunter, a small wave of relief washed over him, but at the sight of the head chief cheetah himself, that relief got drained.

Prowlus' expression hardened at the sight of the two dragons as he got to his feet.

"You two again?" he growled, eyes narrowed into a glare. "Why couldn't you run away like that Flare?"

The question was met with a deep growl beside Spyro. Surprised, the purple dragon turned his head to see that Cavice was the one that growled. Almost immediately, Spyro recognized the deep anger inside his eyes.

"Don't you dare say that he ran away, Prowlus," the blue dragon stated slowly, his eyes narrowed into an icy glare. "He was saving your stinking tail by not letting his anger get the best of himself."

Spyro could see that his younger brother was on the brink of launching himself at the cheetah chief, which made him greatly afraid. He had always known Cavice as the quiet, reserved one. Maybe being close to Flare all the time rubbed off on him.

Despite this, Spyro had to do something, fast.

"I think he's right Prowlus," Hunter suddenly cut in, stopping his chief from saying something that he would regret. "You know that, that young dragon has power beyond a regular dragon."

Prowlus turned a heated glare towards his most experienced warrior. "You're siding with the dragons?" he asked, the anger and surprise thick in his voice.

Hunter shook his head in reply. "There are no sides, you know that Prowlus. What there are, are allies, that worry about us and are here to help us, if you won't put aside your petty grudge against dragons – our most powerful allies – then you don't deserve to be chief!"

Spyro gulped inward, that was _definitely_ going to make Prowlus angry. But what surprised the purple dragon was that it was Hunter that told the chief. He normally thought it would have been a dragon- preferably one of the guardians – that would've said it, not the chief's best warrior.

Spyro turned from Hunter to Prowlus, half-dreading the look on the chief's muzzle. But, instead, there was no look of anger in the chief's eyes, no bristled up fur when cheetahs get anger, not even a hint of anger over his entire body.

Instead, Prowlus looked back at Hunter, his body completely relaxed and his eyes evenly trained on the golden cheetah that was less than a metre away from him.

"Hunter," he stated somewhat calmly, the stare still there. "You are right."

The answer almost made Spyro trip over his own feet in surprise as he stared at the cheetah chief.

The chief seemed to notice the surprise on the purple dragon's muzzle but didn't say anything. Instead, he turned to Cavice who had not moved an inch from where he was.

The anger was still clearly evident over the blue dragon's expression, but with it was a mixture of surprise.

"If it wasn't for dragons, we probably wouldn't even be alive right now," Prowlus stated to Cavice, the chief's own eyes softening a bit. He held his stare on the blue dragon before turning to Spyro. "But you, you saved the entire world and made it out alive. That alone, is special." The chief cheetah, then fixed both dragons into his sight. "Dragons, I will allow you to stay in my home during this storm, but after it has finished, I want you and the other two, to help rebuild the village. Agreed?"

Spyro nodded without wasting a second, a small smile spreading across his muzzle.

But Cavice hesitated for a second before nodding slowly after his elder brother, seeing how quickly he made up his mind.

Spyro noticed the slight hesitation but didn't comment on it, there would be time for that later. Instead, he gestured with a wing to the beaded curtain where they entered.

Cavice immediately nodded once to his brother before quickly, silently padding over to the curtain and vanishing behind it.

Spyro turned back to the two cheetahs, the small smile still there.

"Thank you Prowlus, when this storm is over, we would help as much as possible," with that, the purple dragon parted the curtain with a wing and exited.

He wasn't surprised to find Cavice outside, waiting silently for him. With another small nod, the two dragons walked silently down the heavily decorated hallway.

"Spyro?" Cavice asked, turning to his brother. "How can you be so polite to him? He was acting as if we were inferior to him."

The question didn't take Spyro by surprise, he was expecting ever since he noticed the way Cavice kept glaring at Prowlus

A small sigh escaped the purple dragon's maw as he continued to allow his eyes wander the types of hide armor Prowlus had. "I dunno, Cavice. I always just expect that much from him."

He knew that wasn't the answer that Cavice was looking for, but, to be honest, he didn't know how he was able to put up with the chief cheetah's hurtful remarks.

The rest of the trip down the long hallway was filled with complete silence between the two brothers until they got back to the entrance.

Here, Spyro felt the most uneasy, the storm had really picked up from the last time they were out there. Streaks of lightning flashed across the sky, filling the air with a low booming sound and strong gusts of wind blew the few-remaining huts of the cheetah village over.

The weather was disastrous, not even the best of fliers could fly in this weather and make it out alive. Chances are if you take to the air, you'd be zapped down by a huge voltage of lightning or the powerful winds would blow you off course.

And Cynder was still out there…

Despite his best efforts, Spyro couldn't help but worry extremely deeply about his most beloved black dragoness. The purple dragon's claws dug into the damp earth bellow him as he continued to worry.

"Spyro, stressing won't help anyone," Cavice made his way beside his elder brother again as his stared out into the rain. The calm, blank expression plastered over his muzzle.

Spyro quickly glanced at the blue dragon next to him. _How could he be so calm about this?_ He wondered in his mind before staring back out into the storm, hoping to see the familiar shape of Cynder.

_Come on, Cynder. Where are you?_

*.*.*

Strong gusts of wind, whipped up stray leaves, tufts of grass and water into the air. Lightning etched the sky of the Valley of Avalar, zapping trees, filling the air with a low grumbling sound. All-the-while, rain poured down on the frozen in fear form of Cynder as she stared in wide-eyed in surprise and fear at a once crimson red dragon before her.

This was bad. This was beyond bad. Here Cynder was, staring at Flare who was literally dripping in darkness. His eyes were an almost blinding white as he stared back at her, a blood-thirsty expression on his features as he took a purposely slow step forward.

Cynder had only seen this once, back in the abandoned castle where many rogue apes were living, desperately trying to get their master's alliance back. It was because of this power, that now, that same castle is now in runes and almost everyone in there, dead. Flare, barely managed to live on and is cruelly reminded of the event by the large scar over his right eye.

"Cynder," the dark dragon called, taking a small step towards the opposing dragoness, a deep snarl etched across his muzzle. "How could you betray me like that?"

"Betray?" Cynder literally spat back, meeting the dark dragon's angry gaze with her own. "I didn't betray you!"

The black dragoness knew that this was literally fuel to fire, but she was going to stick up for herself, despite how she was feeling at the moment.

"You did!" Dark Flare roared, taking another step forward. "Siding with that blasted Prowlus is a betrayal! You don't need me to repeat what he said to me!"

The dark dragon was at the brink of launching himself at the black dragoness, Cynder could pick up the way his claws scraped the dirt under every time he took a step. So what was holding him back?

Dark Flare's eyes blazed as he continued to look at the black dragoness before him, yet he didn't launch himself at her, nor did he take another step. He just stood there, his white-hot eyes continuing to stare Cynder down.

"Fine," the dark dragon suddenly said, turning away from the black dragoness and allowing his gaze to drag around the surrounding forest.

Suddenly the dragon's gaze came to a startling halt when it fell on a lone grey tree. Flare continued to stare at the tree for a minute, his muzzle scrunching into one of unmistakable anger.

"You've made your choice, Cynder," he stated, turning back to the black dragoness. "Now it's time to die."

Cynder barely had enough time to roll out of the way as the dark dragon suddenly leapt at her. As she rolled to a stop, she was forced to duck as a flamed-shaped tail blade came at her throat. Again, she rolled out of the way as a dark claw slashed at her, cutting three, deep groves into the damp dirt.

But Cynder didn't have a second to spare before she leapt to the side of another one of the dark dragon's tail blade swipes, missing her by barely an inch.

She had to do something fast. At this rate, if the black dragoness continued to dodge she'd be too tired to even fight back. She had to counter-attack, even if it does mean hurting Flare.

"Flare stop this!" was her final, feeble attempt to stop the fighting. But - as expected – Flare paid her no heed as he quickly faced the black dragoness again and charged at her, his features set in cold determination.

Cynder quickly leapt the side again, unleashing a wave of shadow fire from her maw as the dark dragon passed. This proved to be a crucial mistake because, on impact, the dark flames just became a part of the aura that continued to surround the dragon. To make things worse, Flare didn't seem all that happy about the use of elements as he turned his head back to the black dragoness, a vicious fierce-looking snarl planted on his muzzle.

Terror exploded through Cynder as the dark dragon cracked his jaws open and the dark glow of shadow flames came from his throat. The black dragoness side-stepped the wave of shadow fire and got ready to counter with wind but stopped when Flare cracked his jaws open again.

Again, Cynder nimbly was able to roll out of the way of the shadow flames before it burnt her. But, used her momentum from the roll to get to her feet before opening her jaws and unleashing a gust of wind.

A smirk of superiority came of the dark dragon's muzzle before he opened his maw again and unleashing another gust of wind.

I surprised looked came over Cynder's features as the two forces collided, combusting on themselves, blowing anything nearby away.

The force was enough to know the two dragons away a few metres but nothing else. But terror was already exploding inside Cynder.

_Flare can use wind!_ She thought to herself as the terror inside continued to grow. But the black dragoness didn't have much time to ponder that thought because a second later, Flare was charging at her once again.

Cynder crouched down into a fighting stance as the dark dragon approached, but suddenly, something unexpected happened. As the dragon's foreleg hit the damp earth he suddenly slipped, landing muzzle-first in mud.

Cynder tried to hold back a laugh but wasn't very successful. Seconds later, she found herself laugh extremely hard, though in her mind she knew the current situation was anything but a laughing matter.

But she couldn't contain the laughter, no matter how hard she tried.

Flare got to his feet, glaring at the black dragoness before him with steel dagger.

"Stop laughing!" he roared as he ran at the black dragoness again.

But Cynder didn't, even as she barely dodged a tail blade to her head, it seemed all too hilarious to the black dragoness for a reason she could really understand.

After another near-miss to the head, Cynder immediately stopped laughing, suddenly remembering how serious the battle really was and how it even started.

But could hating Prowlus really make Flare this mad? Cynder seriously doubted it. There had to be something else.

Cynder didn't have any longer to ponder the thought before Flare let out the largest amount of shadow fire at once at her. Through reaction, she dived into the shadows to avoid the attack. Strangely, even when the black dragoness was just shadows, she could slight feel the heat that her opponent's shadow fire would've brought on her, but it didn't hurt.

When the heat suddenly stopped, Cynder knew that this was her chance. As fast as a cheetah, she sprang out from the shadows, one metre from Flare, opening her maw again and unleashed another gust of air from her maw.

Flare didn't have time to dodge before the gust of wind made contact with his right shoulder. A pained roar escaped the dark dragon's maw as he was blown back straight into a thick tree, hitting the bark with incredible force before falling to the ground limply.

Cynder cautiously stalked closer to the dark dragon, thinking that this was all some kind of trap. Only when the darkness that was surrounding Flare suddenly evaporated did the black dragoness drop her guard, releasing a sigh of relief. It was over.

The black dragoness continued to walk until she was right next to the normal crimson red dragon. But there was something wrong. Blood seeped down the cut at the back of the red dragon's head where he hit the tree, but that wasn't even close to it. She couldn't hear him breathing.

A worried looked came over Cynder's muzzle as she hesitantly moved a paw onto Flare's shoulder and shook him lightly.

"Flare, wake up," she stated quietly as she continued to shake the red dragon lightly.

No response.

As the rain continued to pick up, soaking the black dragoness under its un-ending pour, so did Cynder's dread as she stared at the limp form of Flare.

What had she done?

* * *

><p><strong>Yay, long-ish chapter! Again, sorry about the wait. The next chapter would probably be the normal size, hopefully it won't take as long.<strong>

**Well, until next time...**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi! :) Sorry for the wait, I've got a ton of excuses but it actually just came down to my laziness in the end. x) I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

><p>"How long is this trek going to take?" Flare mumbled cautiously as he eyed the surrounding tunnels with a careful eye.<p>

It had only been a few minutes since Saber suddenly showed his worry for his youngest brother by hugging him, even though it was still hard for the youngest dragon to believe. Since then, they made a plan to escape from the underground cave. In this time they had managed to separate from the other escaping dragons and become hopelessly lost through the never-ending amount of passages and tunnels. It didn't surprise Flare, though, he could hardly see past his muzzle. The only lighting in the entire cave were a few small purple gems, which seemed to do more than light the cave. Though he still didn't know what.

Saber turned a watchful eye to his youngest brother, but didn't turn his head.

"Flare, you can stop being on the edge," he stated evenly. "I can see through my element that there aren't any apes nearby."

"Yeah Flare!" Cavice piped up, a small smile on his muzzle. "Chill out before I do it for you."

Flare could see Valie smile at the comment and trade a gaze with Saber who also had a small smile on his muzzle.

"Keep quiet back there," Valie scolded, but the red dragon could easily detect the joking tone and the large smile that was on his elder sister's muzzle as she slapped him gently on the muzzle with the flat side of her lightning-shaped tail blade.

The youngest dragon chuckled softly as he allowed his gaze to drag along the rough walls of the current tunnel they were in. Though the surrounding area seemed to dampen the red dragon's souls a bit –he didn't know if it was the blood the streaked down the rough walls around them or the strange way ape's cries seemed to echo in the area – but a smile kept itself planted on his muzzle.

_I wish it was always like this,_ he thought bitterly as his gaze finally settled on his claws, the smile disappearing with it.

The last few weeks have not what Flare would call enjoyable, nor fun. The entire time Cynder kept them in their separate chambers only coming in for food and water. The food wasn't even that good, dry, tough meat is not one thing that the red dragon would want to eat _ever_ again. Not to mention that the water was hardly call sufficient, Flare could literally see dirt every time he drank. He swore that they were getting treated _worse_ than apes.

But all that was gone. Now they could escape and live a normal life. Without any apes, without bad quality resources, without a massive, black dragoness that was feared around the world. All that was over. They can live a normal life.

"Flare! Snap out of it!" Saber's panicked voice cut through his thoughts instantly, as he felt his shoulder get shaken vigorously by a strong forepaw.

Flare immediately shook his head to clear the thoughts away before staring at Saber straight in the eyes.

"Follow me and keep quiet," the elder earth dragon ordered before rushing off, not even giving his younger brother time to ask.

Flare couldn't stop the sigh that escaped his maw before running after his eldest brother, his muzzle scrunched into one of concentration as he tried to think of what just happened.

But he didn't have time to think, as soon as he caught up to Saber – which proved to be tiring – he heard the same echo of apes, this time sounding louder.

Saber instantly stopped, almost making Flare crash muzzle-first into his eldest brother.

"Hey, what was that for? I almost crashed into you," he stated as he came around to his eldest brother's side.

"They're coming," he stated, keeping his eyes fixed on the large tunnel in front of him that lead to darkness as he took in a deep breath.

Flare instantly noticed that the howl of apes that echoed around began to get louder and quickly followed his brother's gaze. He didn't even have to ask what was coming, he already knew.

As the red dragon suspected, the cries of the apes became louder and louder the longer they waited. Flare took in a deep breath and exhaled it to calm his nerves, he knew there was going to be a fight and very soon.

"Flare," Saber suddenly called out, turning to the smaller dragon. "I think you know what are coming."

Flare nodded nervously before turning back to the tunnel, his eyes full of fear. His legs seemed weak, his whole body was trembling, he didn't think that he'd need to fight for his life at such an early age and he didn't want to lose it either. He didn't even _want_ to fight. Even if Saber said that he was extremely talented and good at it, he hated seeing blood. He hated seeing his claws, tail blade, anything, covered in it.

But he also didn't want to seem weak or pathetic, to be looked down at just because he can't stand a little blood.

_But is there going to be little blood? _The question wormed itself into his mind as the sound of apes grew louder.

Saber turned to his brother again, a sad look over his muzzle as he noticed the way the young dragon was trembling. Flare quickly noticed his eldest brother's gaze on his and quickly met it with his own.

"Flare, we're not going to fight them," he announced calmly, his stare also as calm as water. "There are too many. We'd need at least ten full-grown dragons to stand a chance." He got the large tunnel back in his gaze with the same calm expression.

Flare turned a confused gaze at his brother. If they're not going to fight then what are they going to do? Another question that was answered by a glance in the direction where the apes were coming from.

"They're close, get ready to run," Saber ordered, crouching down into a battle-stance.

Flare turned another confused glance at his eldest brother.

_Run? Why are we running?_ He wondered as the cries of apes steadily grew louder.

Suddenly it all hit at once before a small smile found itself onto Flare's muzzle as he also crouched into a fighting stance, now he understood everything. Especially why they're waiting for the apes and also why Cavice and Valie weren't here, it was all too obvious. How come he didn't figure it out before?

The noise was now almost unbearable, the yelps from many apes, bouncing off cave walls seemed to strangely amplify the sounds. But here Flare was, with his eldest brother staring it down, waiting for two figures to appear from the darkness. The young red dragon found this extremely hard to do, seeing how he's always full of energy.

Suddenly, two lone figures appeared out of the darkness, both looked extremely tired and were being followed by hundreds of apes. The apes were screeching and yelping for joy as they began to gain on the two dragons that were slowing down from the length of the run.

"We've got to help them!" Saber stated, sounding less calm then usual before opening his maw and unleashing a large earth missile. The missile hit its mark on the first row of apes, sending them crashing back into its other comrades. But as quickly as they fell, the second row of apes jumped to their feet and continued their charge.

Damage-wise, the earth missile hardly managed to kill three apes, but the blast managed to slow the apes down enough so that the two dragons could get some valuable distance between them and the filthy creatures behind them.

"Flare!" Cavice shouted as he ran up to the younger, smaller dragon, a grateful smile on his muzzle. "You airhead, what were you doing when we were literally shouting that apes are approaching!"

"No time!" Valie cut in, turning to Saber. "We've gotta go!"

The eldest sibling nodded once before running through the cave where they just came from.

The other three siblings met each other's gaze before nodding and taking off after their eldest brother.

_Well, that went as planned_, Flare thought bitterly, turning his head slightly to see the apes somehow gaining on them.

The red dragon found the fact extremely startling, to see the disgusting creatures so close and wanting blood. _His_ blood. The bladed weapons they had in their boney hands didn't so much as help the red dragon's confidence that he'd live the battle.

Fearful energy suddenly flooded the red dragon's being as he began to pick up his pace. Though he knew that he was running faster, it didn't seem to make a difference, the apes were still fast-approaching and weren't slowing down.

_This is bad,_ the red dragon thought as he rounded a corner, following his siblings ahead of him. Not only were the apes gaining but Flare was tiring, the pace they were currently running definitely wasn't one the red dragon couldn't keep up for long.

"Saber, they're gaining!" Valie shouted, also sounding a bit tired as she picked up her pace a bit.

Saber, however didn't seem to tire, instead he sped up even more.

"Tell me something I don't know!" he countered, turning his head slightly to get his siblings in his sights. When he took in his youngest brother's condition, his expression changed to one of worry.

Flare met his eldest brother's worried gaze for a second, but quickly turned away. He knew what Saber was thinking, it was the same reason why he currently hated himself.

He always let his siblings down, he always let everyone down. He was weak, pathetic and he hated it about himself.

"Everyone, stop!" Saber declared, skidding to a stop and turning around to face his younger siblings.

"What!" Valie literally screeched in surprised as she also skidded to a halt.

Cavice stopped soon after a surprised expression also on his muzzle. "Why!"

As Flare drew to a sliding stop, he turned away from his siblings, not having the pride to even look at them.

"On second thought, I think we could be able to take on these apes," he stated, he gaze dragged to the fast-approaching apes in front of him.

This was of course a lie and Flare knew it.

"No, Saber, we can't take them on, there's too many," Valie pleaded, her eyes full of fear before she also turned to the apes who had drawn to a halt a few metres away from the small band of siblings.

"Well, it's too late now, isn't it?" Saber replied calmly as he took a step forward to face his opponents.

_No, no, no!_ Flare screamed in his mind as tears came to his eyes. The red dragon quickly closed his eyes, allowing the tears to roll down the side of his muzzle and drop onto his claws. _No! We are all going to die because I'm still too pathetic and weak._ He opened his eyes at the sound of the ape's cries grew louder and turned to the incoming opponents. The disgusting creatures still had that same blood-thirsty look in their eyes, but all eyes were turned onto Saber.

A cold feeling flooded through the red dragon as all the apes charged at the earth dragon, all had their weapons ready and facing the eldest sibling.

More tears came to the young dragon's eyes as Saber barely dodged an ape's axe and countered the owner of the weapon with a point-blank range earth missile in the chest, shattering the ape's rib cage as it flew into its comrades from the impact.

But, this wasn't right.

Saber should be still running away not fighting a battle that his youngest brother couldn't win, a battle _they_ couldn't win. There were just too many apes. No matter how many they kill, it wouldn't make a difference; they were still going to die

A numb feeling spread through the red dragon's being as an ape managed to plant an axe into Saber right flank, blood burst out from the earth dragon's wound as a roar of sheer pain came out of his maw, bouncing off the cave walls and echoing around the large cave.

Flare was forced to turn to his right as more tears came to his eyes.

_Why Saber? Why?_ He screamed in his mind yet again as he began to cry harder. _Why did you have to stop? Just because I couldn't keep up with you guys doesn't mean all of us had to!_

Another roar of pain from Saber filled the cave as yet another ape managed to get its sword into that same flank. Flare couldn't help it, the same dragon that was sacrificing his own life was dying right in front of him and what was he doing?

Nothing.

A deep anger sparked from the red dragon's chest as fresh, warm tears came to his eyes. He turned his horrified gaze onto his eldest brother who was barely able to dodge the ape's attacks as he gradually began to slow down due to exhaustion and loss of blood.

"SABER!" Valie screamed, running towards the barely-living earth dragon, electricity sparking between her jaws.

The red dragon's eyes grew wide in horror as Valie's shriek bounced off the walls in the cave they were in. A bladed axe was stuck in the yellow dragoness's flank as blood dripped out of the open wound.

_V-Valie!_ He screamed in his mind as the anger sparked again, swelling his chest with a deep, warm feeling. Two of his siblings were already down in a battle that could have been avoided, a battle that was _his_ fault.

The red dragon closed his eyes as more tears came to his eyes.

_I need to help them_…

"Flare, look out!"

_They saved me…_

The sound of the ape's cries began to get closer and louder.

_What did I do…I left them, abandoned them…_

"FLARE! MOVE!"

_I'm sorry Valie, Saber. I'm going to avenge what they have done to you…what they have done to us all…_

"NO!"

_I'm going to show everyone, everything, that I'm not a pathetic, weak hatchling. That I can make up for what I've failed to do…_

_This battle has drawn out long enough, _the red dragon snapped his eyes open and quickly side-stepped the incoming ape's axe, missing his muzzle by an inch. A deep, warm feeling surged through the red dragon's veins as he countered the nearby ape in the chest with the back of his right forepaw, knocking the air out the creature and sending it crashing into the cave's wall, likely breaking one of its ribs and also alerting the other apes.

His entire body felt hot. Extremely hot. But there was something more, he felt power, lots and lots of power. All the red dragon's previous fears seemed to melt away as the power continued to build.

The rage of seeing his siblings dying dominated his every thought as he continued to glare at the apes who had momentarily stopped attack the two dragons and were staring in wide-eyed shock at the red dragon.

The sight of the creatures that inflicted so much pain over the red dragon and his other siblings, ignited more anger inside him, making even more power build up. Flare gritted his fangs when the power became unbearable, before a second later unleashing the biggest roar the small dragon could muster and turning back to his opponents, keeping a steady glare on them all the way through.

A smile of amusement came to the young dragon's muzzle when he saw the emotion that was on the ape's faces.

Fear.

It almost seemed ironic, he thought. He was in that position a few short minutes ago.

The smile soon disappeared, replaced by a scowl that made the young dragon look all-the-more threatening as he took a deliberately slow step forward. A sharp snarl escaped his maw, also echoing around the cave and startling the apes further.

The apes backed away a few steps as the youngest dragon continued to plod his way to them, eyes burning with a rage that was fueled by the sight of his enemies.

"Flare!" a familiar voice cried out from behind, voice full of surprise.

It didn't take long for Flare to turn his head and locate the owner of the voice, the look on his brother's face was one of confusion.

"Yeah?" he asked, he voice sounding distorted.

Cavice continued to stammer as his eyes danced around Flare, as if looking for some way to defy what he was thinking.

Flare just stood there silently, a still angry but also confused expression on his muzzle. What was he looking at?

After a few more moments, the youngest dragon lost interest of what his elder brother was trying to say and turned back to face the apes.

_The mongrels still haven't moved,_ Flare thought, a cold, satisfying smile coming to his muzzle again.

_Get on with it!_

A surprised expression came over the young dragon's muzzle as he took a step back in surprise, that was _not_ his voice.

_What are you waiting for? Stop dilly-dallying and kill them before your body gives out!_

Another fearful step back.

_What!_ He screamed in his mind. _Body gives out! What are you talking about!_

_No time to explain just defeat them!_

A growl formed at the back of his throat, he didn't like being told what to do.

_Oh yeah! Why should I?_

An annoyed grunt was his only reply. Flare waited a few moments, but when he didn't hear the voice again he turned his attention back to the apes.

_Have you already forgotten what they have done to you and your siblings?_

Another growl formed at the back of the young dragon's throat.

_You're still here? Where are you anyway?_

_That's not important now, just defeat them!_

That quote again. Flare didn't know why, but he felt that he should listen to the voice, whatever it is.

A sigh passed through the young dragon's lips as he got a few apes that were beginning to scamper away in his sights.

He didn't spare a second. Flare dug his claws into the ground as fire spewed through his mouth, quickly devouring the fleeing apes, leaving only their ashes behind.

The move seemed somehow ruthless in the young dragon's mind, but after a second of thought, he realized it really was.

He didn't like that feeling.

A sharp, shrill screech from in front brought Flare's attention off the remains of his earlier foes to see a lone ape charging at him, a large sword raised above its head.

Flare tried his best to suppress a sigh as he nimbly side-stepped the blade before sending his tail-blade straight through the ape's gut.

A gargled cry filled the air before the ape fell dead, the young dragon's tail-blade still through it.

Using a forepaw, Flare quickly pushed the carcass off his deadly weapon, dropping it loudly on the ground, allowing the sound to echo before turning to the next row of apes, muzzle scrunched into an emotion of disgust.

"Who's next?"

The all the apes were staring at the young dragon before them, all eyes filled with fear.

They feared him and for some unknown, stupid reason, he felt sympathy for them. How could he feel sympathy for a band of filthy creatures that had made their lives a living hell? Was it them or Cynder? Will Cynder return soon?

The more the young dragon thought of it, the more anxious he got, knowing that his questions were not going to be answer any time soon.

"Flare, what are you doing?" Valie's voice cut through his mind like a knife through water. "They're getting away."

The young dragon turned his gaze to the fleeing apes as his anger towards the mongrels grew again. He opened his mouth, waiting for the warm feeling from the back of his throat to unleash another stream of red-hot fire, hopefully incinerating half of them.

But it didn't come.

Instead, Flare found himself rapidly losing energy. It felt like someone just rammed a massive dark crystal next to him and it was absorbing his strength. But this was _much_ faster.

Then came the next feeling…

Pain.

Flare gritted his fangs as his legs suddenly gave way under him, resulting with him crashing muzzle-first into the hard, stone ground underneath. But that was nothing compared to the amount he was suffering everywhere else. His legs, paws, wings, body and even his tail, felt like they were going to explode at that one moment.

He wanted to roar. He wanted to allow the entire world around him to know how he felt at that moment. But he knew that would be a fatal and disastrous mistake.

He knew that the apes would be able to hear it, no matter how far they were - the distortions that occur in the cave made sure of that. He also knew what apes are like when they hear the pained cries of a dragon and he didn't want to be on the defensive of it.

But the pain was unbearable. He couldn't suppress a small, soft grunt, hoping that the apes didn't hear it.

He wished it would all stop. The amount of pain was growing by the second. It felt like someone was continuously slashing him with a deadly weapon, not taking a moment to stop and rest or even have mercy on their victim.

The red dragon knew he couldn't stand the pain for much longer before he had to open his mouth and roar to the earth his pain.

Suddenly, it stopped. The pain and the draining feeling all subsided in one moment, as if a giant wave flooded all the harmful feeling inside of the red dragon. But, with that feeling came a sudden dizziness, the whole world around Flare was spinning and he couldn't focus his eyes on one spot.

The last thing he saw, were his siblings running up to him, their expression mixed into one of awe, horror and fear, calling out something to the red dragon that only fell on deaf ears, before his world turned dark.

Silence surrounded Flare as he blinked his eyes open, tiredly. It didn't seem that he had moved an inch from where he muzzle-planted before his world dripped into one of unconsciousness.

His neck pained of stiffness while his whole body throbbed of exhaustion, he knew there was hardly a chance that he could stand yet alone walk in his current condition.

But, what had caused it? He could easily remember the events that had occurred last time he was conscious but he still couldn't find a clear reason for what exactly happened, which disturbed him deeply.

What was that power? What was the cause of the pain after the apes were on the run? Why did it suddenly stop? The more the red dragon thought of it, the more he figured out that his questions were not going to be answered by him just lying there.

With an agonizing groan he lifted his head up from the rocky terrain bellow him and planted two forepaws in front of him. With effort, he tensed his muscles and pushed his upper-half of his body up using his two legs to push the rest of him up and focused onto a stable standing stance.

With great effort, Flare took a few heavy footsteps to a nearby cave wall before resting his aching body onto the hard rock.

The red dragon stood there, slumped against a wall as he eyed his surroundings with a nervous eye.

Where were his siblings? He couldn't find any trace of the elder dragons nor hear anything that could indicate that they were around.

His gaze dropped to his claws.

_Maybe the apes returned_, he wondered fearfully.

The thought of his siblings falling to the filthy creatures, sparked another spark of anger in the young dragon's heart, but nothing more.

"Flare!"

The red dragon shot his head up at the sound of his name and the familiar voice.

_Could it be?_ He turned his head slowly in the direction of the voice. A smile soon split his muzzle as he easily recognized the small blue dragon that was running up to him, a few tears spilling from his eyes as he ran.

As Cavice neared, he slowed down his pace until he was walk before stopping a metre from his young brother, a small, embarrassed smile on his muzzle.

"I-I thought you would be out for a few more hours at the least, b-but, w-what…" the blue dragon stuttered, seemingly lost for words.

Flare took a small step towards his brother and laid a paw on his shoulder. "Hey, calm down," he said quietly and calmingly, the smile still there.

Cavice nodded slightly before lifting a paw up and wiping the tears away with the back of it.

"Sheesh, people would think I would be the elder brother out of the two of us," Flare continued slyly, lifting his paw off his brother's shoulder.

"Y-You! Don't make me laugh, you're so immature that you probably take hours to find your way out of here alone," Cavice countered harshly, though it was obviously half-hearted and slightly true. But the blue dragon's expression changed into one of concern a moment later as he gazed upon his younger brother's current condition.

"Can you walk? We need to get out of here before the apes decide to come back here," he continued slowly, his gaze shifting from his brother to the darkness of the cave ahead of them.

Flare let out an exhausted sigh as he allowed his gaze to drag back to his claws. Picking himself up off that ground and slowly walking to the wall took almost everything out of him, what was the chance that he could make it to who-knows-where?

Seemingly picking up that his young brother couldn't do it, Cavice walked to the side of his brother and lifted a wing under Flare's taking some weight off of his brother.

Almost instantly, the red dragon felt some pressure come off his paws. Startled, he turned his head to his elder brother.

"Did that help?" Cavice asked, smiling slightly.

Flare gave a small nod, smiling back. "Thanks."

Cavice nodded back before leading his young brother towards the darkness ahead of him.

Flare found the pace his brother was leading him, fast and hard to keep up. Even with the blue dragon's assistance, he found that every step he took caused another wave of pain to shoot through his legs, causing him more grief. But he didn't complain, after all, he could not ask for more.

The two brothers walked in silence through the dark cave, their only light coming from the few dark crystals that was scattered around. Every time the two passed close by one, the red dragon felt suddenly exhausted and fatigue.

As the two continued to walk, Flare noticed that the route they were taking was straight forward and obvious, they were literally walking straight. Even when they were met with multiple cross-sections of tunnels, Cavice didn't make any effort of turning and checking each one, just walked straight. The red dragon hoped that his elder brother really did know the way.

After a few minutes, Flare noticed that the cave walls around them were growing more narrower the further they went and the normal dim light which came from the crystals around were steadily fading, replaced by a calming bluish light.

"We're getting close," Cavice stated steadily, keeping his gaze straight ahead. "We should speed up a bit; I think we both know that Saber is not very patient."

Flare nodded slightly, before trying to speed up a bit. His effort was in vain, the pace they were going in was his fastest. The red dragon found himself pushed to his limits as they approached the light and the outside world.

A brilliant blue light blinded the red dragon as he stepped into the open, before he raised a wing to shelter himself from it and waited for his eyes to adjust to the immense amount of light. It seemed that living in the dark had its toll on his eyes, because it took a minute for his eyes to adjust before withdrawing his wing.

The red dragon's eyes grew in surprise and partly disbelief. Many different types of vegetation that he has never seen before stood before him under the darkness of the night. Mushroom-looking trees, large shrubs that looked at lot like strange, large berries and thick mud were not the red dragon's world of paradise. But after living underground for a few weeks, filled with the stench of foul apes and continuously terrorized by a massive, evil, black dragoness, he felt somewhat happy.

The foul stench of the swamp filled Flare's nostrils, though not equaling the stench of apes; he still didn't like the smell.

"Valie and Saber are that way," Cavice stated, thrusting his head ahead of them and to a thin, shining river. The blue dragon continued to walk, dragging Flare along.

"We followed this river for a few minutes before we came to an open patch of land which was free from mud, rocks and vegetation," he continued, focusing his gaze ahead of them again.

Flare nodded, though he was only half-listening to his brother and had most of his attention on the thin river they were walking beside. Moonlight reflected off the glimmering surface of the silvery river, the water so clear that he could see his reflection through it.

It disturbed him how much he has changed since the last time he saw his reflection.

His once stubby, short horns have grown slightly curved in some areas and he swore he has gotten a little bigger. The spines that ran from between his horns to down to his tail have also grown and his once bright orangey-red scales that had once matched his eyes, have taken on a more red tone, making him darker.

Most of all, he was a mess. A thin layer of dust had settled all over some parts of his body and parts of his horns had hardened dirt on them. The red dragon was tempted to just jump into the clear cool water but stopped when he realized that the strength of the current of the river would sweep him away in his current, weak state.

"Flare!"

The red dragon turned a startled gaze to Cavice, misjudging a step and slipped on the smooth, soft dirt beside the river. Before he could correct himself, the red dragon found himself falling towards the cool river beside him. Suddenly, he felt a strong paw grab his wing, causing a river of pain to flow through the thin bone, before roughly pulling him back onto ground, allowing him to gain balance.

"I save your sorry tail, again!" Cavice stated annoyance thick in his voice, as he turned back in front of them. The blue dragon continued to trudge on, withdrawing his wing from his brothers and leaving the younger dragon behind, seemingly tired of taking care of him.

"W-Wait, you're leaving me?" Flare cried out, sounding helpless. The red dragon moved a forepaw to take a step and follow the blue dragon. As soon as the paw touched the soft dirt beneath, a lance of pain shot though his leg and he let out a pained grunt, causing him to almost collapse under his weight.

Cavice stopped mid-step the instant his heard his younger brother's pain, but didn't turn around to assist.

"I'm sorry Flare, if you don't push yourself then how are you going to survive alone?" he stated, his voice stern and calm. "We won't be around to help you every moment in your life."

"But I don't know the way to the others!" Flare protested, desperation creeping into his voice, before taking another step forward, only to experience more pain flood through him. The red dragon gritted his teeth to avoid himself from crying out before collapsing quietly, muzzle-first on the ground.

"The route is straight-forward and obvious, it's just a few metres walk from here," Cavice stated calmly before walking further ahead, his paws hitting the soft dirt quietly.

"We built a mini shelter in a small clearing beside the river, so all you need to do is follow it!" he hollered before picking up his pace.

Flare groaned quietly as the form of his brother was lost behind a mushroom-tree. The red dragon lay there for a few seconds, writhing as waves of pain washed over him. When he had collapsed, he had landed on his right forepaw which felt like it had popped out of its place and his body stung from the impact with the ground.

His body felt as fragile as the strange, dark crystals that were inside Cynder's lair. That fall shouldn't have hurt him _that_ badly, he should have easily recovered from it.

Pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind, he pushed his legs from underneath him at attempt to stand. The red dragon had only gotten half way up before his right forepaw exploded in pain, causing him to lose his concentration.

Again, Flare had to grit his fangs to avoid the attention of the predators of the swamp as he landed on his back, filling his body with pain again.

_This is stupid_, he thought, growling in discomfort at the vulnerable position he was in. He had his soft belly scales exposed. If anything attacked him in this position, he could literally be called dead. Not to mention that to unleash a counter-attack would be a hard thing to do.

As his strength slowly returned, the red dragon felt his gaze wander to the two celestial moons above. Every time he looked at them, he would feel his body suddenly relax and he would suddenly be completely calm.

As the red dragon's bright fiery red eyes continued to stare at moons above, there was something different about the moons on this night that he had never saw before. He began to ponder on the thought as he kept a steady gaze on the two rocks.

It took a few minutes before the red dragon's eyes suddenly widened in realization.

They were close.

Flare had only heard about it once, from an old tale Saber used to tell at night. When the two moons cross paths, the world would befall into darkness.

The red dragon scowled slightly, eyes narrowing onto the moon's clear-looking surface. He never liked the darkness. And after living a few weeks in it, it had almost guaranteed it.

"Hey, Flare!" the cry suddenly cut through the red dragon's thought, snapping him back to reality.

Startled, he rolled onto his stomach before turning his head to the source of the call. Surprise entered the red dragon's expression when he saw Valie running towards him, an expression of relief entering her expression as her golden scale glimmered in the pale moonlight.

A small smile appeared on Flare's muzzle as he pushed his paws under him and got to his feet with ease. After a moment, a surprise expression came over his features as he realized what he just did. After minutes trying to his feet and not succeeding, after a short rest and he did it with ease.

The red dragon turned to his paws, confused.

_How can that be?_ He wondered. It normally took hours to recover from the exhaustion he felt. What normally took hours, took mere seconds for the red dragon.

Unless he was staring at the moon for hours?

Flare quickly dismissed the thought with a shake of his head. No, he knew he could never keep his attention on anything for _that_ long, he seemed to always get distracted.

He was suddenly aware of approaching footsteps and lifted his head to see Valie a metre away from him. The red dragon couldn't help but to slightly gasp in amazement.

In the darkness of the cave, he could never get a fully visible sight of his sister. Darkness always hid a part of his sister. But since they were out of the cave, he could clearly see her and was surprised by how much she had changed.

Her once golden horns and spikes had dulled down to a kind of light brown. Bright, vibrant, golden scales dominated the once faded gold and she had grown a bit taller ever since they entered the cave. She was now a few inches taller than Flare.

A broad smile spread across her muzzle as she took a few steps to before stopping an inch from the smaller dragon and embraced him with a small hug, eyes twinkling in the pale moonlight.

"We were so worried," she stated quietly, tightening her grip on the red dragon a bit.

Flare gave a small smile as he hugged his sister back, relieved to finally see her again. The warmth from the yellow dragoness's scales seemed to brush all the fear and exhaustion the younger dragon had obtained in his journey through the cave.

"At times, I worried that you wouldn't make it. That you…"

Flare turned up towards his elder sister with a smile planted on his muzzle.

"Come on Valie? As if I would give up," the red dragon stated evenly.

Valie chuckled quietly, amused, before letting the red dragon go from her embrace.

The red dragon still found it a little hard to believe how much his sister has changed in the amount of a few weeks in the cave. _Maybe there were some benefits of living in pain; maybe it helps dragon gro_-

With an amused smirk of his muzzle, the red dragon shook his head before turning to his claws again, scolding himself for thinking so stupidly.

"We gotta get back to the camp," Valie stated, making Flare lift his head up to face her. The yellow dragoness had turned to the direction of the camp – or where Flare thought it was – and began to walk in that direction quietly.

Suddenly feeling like he was going to get left behind, Flare picked up his pace until he was at his elder sister's side.

The two siblings walked in silence for a few seconds, seemingly tired of the day's events. It was obvious that Valie was slowing her pace just to allow Flare to follow, but the red dragon didn't mind, at least he would not get lost.

After a few more seconds, Flare began to see a weak light ahead, but some shrubs blocked his view from seeing any more. A sigh of relief escaped the red dragon's maw when the two turned the corner to see the camp.

The actual camp area spread a few metres in each direction, giving the siblings enough room to move. A large, thick log rested at the back of the camp with a few herbs and leaves on top of it - Flare guessed those were Valie's. The dirt was even and dry and a large leaf-like bowl sat on the ground, beside Cavice who was watching the fire that was dead in the middle of the camp.

The blue dragon turned as the two approached before pushing the bowl towards Flare with a paw.

"Here, you must be thirsty," he stated quietly before turning back to the fire.

Flare smirked slightly before dipping his head to drink. The water was surprisingly cool and fresh, every gulp he took felt like he was drinking from one of the rivers in Avalar. Instantly, memories of his old home came flooding back to him like the river, streaming into his mind, remembering the good times before they got attacked and captured by Cynder.

After a few seconds, the red dragon withdrew his muzzle from the bowl, licking his lips for excess water before turning to his sister who was seated in front of the fire, beside Cavice.

A frown entered the red dragon's expression before he slowly walked to the fire, sitting beside Valie, before allowing his eyes to drag along his surroundings, the boredom thick in his actions.

As the red dragon lazily allowed his eyes to drag over the camp, his mind began to wander elsewhere.

Where was Saber? Flare had noticed it when he had entered the camp. Saber was not with Cavice, which was unusual. The two share a bond that would take many years of bickering or fighting to break.

With a slight shrug, the red dragon brought his attention back to Cavice. The blue dragon hadn't moved an inch from when Flare's mind began to wander and he kept a blank expression on the fire, as if he was in deep thought.

Valie was in the same position, but kept twitching when a sound occurred in the forest.

Had something happened when I was out? Flare began to wonder, turning his gaze to his two paws in front of him. He didn't know what, but his instincts told him that it was not something good nor to ask them at the present time.

Instead, the red dragon sat there silently, keeping his mind blank so questions don't worm their way into his mind and cause him to panic. That was the last thing the red dragon would want at that current time.

Suddenly, the sound of heavy footfalls made the three siblings turn to the area of the camp where nothing lay.

On instinct, Flare quickly got to his feet and posed his tail over his head, allowing the moonlight to reflect off the sharpest edge of his tail blade. His body tensed as he lowered himself in to a battle-stance, his tail still over his head.

A green figure emerged from behind a mushroom tree a many metres away. Flare could feel his anxiously spike as the figure turned towards the camp's direction and run. The red dragon strained his eyes to see what it actually was, it was too far away for him to see it clearly.

As the figure finally got close enough to be seen clearly, Flare allowed his body to relax as he withdrew his tail blade before a large grin split his muzzle.

It was Saber.

The large earth dragon didn't slow his running until he had reached his other siblings. Beads of sweat rolled down the side of his muzzle and his breath came in short, quick gasps as he came to a halt in front of them.

"What happened?" Valie asked, her expression in one of surprise.

Saber didn't answer for a few seconds, focusing on trying to keep his breath steady. In that time, Flare quickly scanned his eldest brother's body for an injury of any kind, to prove that there was a fight and had forced the earth dragon to flee. But he found nothing.

"Guys…" Saber started, still out of breath as he stared at his three younger siblings, his expression in one of eagerness - a rare sight. "Follow…me."

The earth dragon suddenly turned around and began to slowly walk in the direction on which he had just come from, still looking exhausted.

Confusion was clear over Valie's muzzle, but nonetheless, followed her elder brother, picking up her pace until she was beside him.

Flare and Cavice exchange a quick glance before jogging up to their elder siblings.

They were following the river. It was made a fact when Saber kept his gaze on it, as if he was afraid it would disappear.

Flare smirked slightly when the thought hit him, but didn't comment, last thing he wanted was an angry Saber and a fight. Especially when the swamp was filled with eerie hoots and howling, making the red dragon on edge.

_When would it be morning?_ He wondered, somewhat angrily as he swung his head to the river. He saw a clear, reflection across the crystal-like surface, above it were the moons, closing in on each other. The thought of asking Saber about them, but he quickly denied trying.

The four siblings walked in silence, only exchanging a few words here and then, most of it completely irrelevant to the swamp or where they were going.

After what felt like hours, the mushroom-trees opened up to reveal a long golden path, leading to two large, golden doors. Flare found himself speechless as he took in every detail of the doors and what was around them.

It looked like an old temple that had been used in the war. Smashed glass and broken statues littered the dirt around it. The red dragon imagined that the temple would have looked when it was in its prime and still in one piece.

As he allowed his gaze to drag down to the actual doors again, before his eyes widened in surprise.

The doors were wide open.

The red dragon narrowed his eyes at them suspiciously. Why would whoever made this place open the doors wide? Unless it was abandoned, which would make sense.

"Come on," Saber stated, before taking off sprinting.

"Hey, Saber! Wait up!" Valie hollered, chasing after him.

Flare and Cavice quickly followed, silently.

The red dragon had to admit, it must be something big to get his eldest brother _this_ excited. He couldn't help but slightly chuckle when he realized how un-Saber, Saber was actually acting.

The red dragon snapped out of his thoughts when he saw the eldest sibling draw to a stop in front of the huge doors. Slightly startled, Flare quickly stopped beside the elder dragon before turning to face him, confusion clear on his muzzle.

"So you dragged us here to see this?" Cavice asked, slowly stopping beside Flare.

Valie came next, skidding to a halt on the other side of Saber. "If that's all, I don't know what you're so excited about."

Saber just shook his head slowly, a smile appearing on his muzzle as he took another step towards the door.

"Just watch."

Before Flare could ask, the elder dragon slammed his thick tail into one of the metallic door. Instantly, a strange, amplified sound rung through the entire temple, catching the siblings by surprise by how loud the noise was.

Flare had to place his paws over his ears so he could withstand the sound, resulting in another muzzle-plant. The strange sound echoed for a few seconds before slowly fading to a soft _ping_. Even several seconds after the sound, the red dragon's ears were still ringing, irritating him. In pain, turned to his other siblings, only to see them having the same problem.

After a few more seconds, the ringing subsided before he immediately turned a heated glare towards his eldest brother who had resumed his calm posture.

_What was he thinking!_ The raging question echoed through his head as his eyes narrowed suspiciously. _Did he want to alert nearby creatures of their presence?_

"He should be coming now," Saber simply stated before turning to his younger siblings again.

"I want all of you to treat this dragon with your upmost respect. He is literally a living legend and had been through many things, many of us wouldn't have survived. Also, try to restrict yourself from asking anything personal, like I said, he's been through a lot."

_Dragon?_ Flare wondered turning to his claws again. _Another dragon? _The thought seemed to lift the red dragon's mood a bit.

"Yes, mother," Cavice said in an exhausted voice, a playful smile on his muzzle.

Flare couldn't stop himself from chuckling, though it was barely audible, as small tears of laughter fell from his eyes and onto his claws. He heard a small chuckle from beside him, before turning to see it was Valie, also trying her best to burst out laughing

Saber turned a heat glare towards his three younger siblings before stopping at Cavice, a small, amused smile appearing on his muzzle. "Shut up."

He then straightened up his posture again, before continuing. "But I was not joking; try your best to pull back any snide comments like that one."

Suddenly, a steady stream of heavy footstep could be heard from inside the temple, drawing the small group of dragon's attention away from their conversation and onto the temple.

Saber's eyes jumped as he turned his body so he was position straight at the temple. "He's coming."

Suddenly panicking, Flare turned his own body to face the temple and tried to imitate his eldest brother's posture. He found it an extremely hard thing to do. Saber kept his head up as if he was dragon that had a lot of pride.

After a few attempts, – the sound of footsteps getting closer all-the-while – the red dragon just gave up and settled into a posture that he was proud of.

Just as he corrected himself, a dragon exited the massive temple.

First thing Flare noticed was how big this dragon was, he was hardly reaching up to this dragon's shoulder. His scales were a bright red, almost matching the colour of the youngest dragon's eyes and he had a strange multiple horns on his muzzle and face. The spikes that ran from his horns to his tail looked like strange fins that he had seen on some fish Flare had hunted and from the way he walked, he looked like a war veteran.

A cheery smile came to his muzzle as he caught sight of the young dragons, before his gaze fell on Saber.

"I was having trouble believing you Saber, but it looks like you told no lie." He turned to the other three dragons with a welcoming smile. "Welcome Flare, Cavice and Valie, to the Dragon Temple."

Flare raised a questioning brow on how he knew their names but didn't push the matter, seeing how useless it would be to ask. The words that Saber spoke a few minutes ago suddenly came back to him.

_Be as respectful as you can._

Flare wasn't completely sure what to say at a time like this nor how to say it respectfully so he remained quiet before trading a quick glance with Cavice who met it for a moment before turning away. The red dragon followed his example and turned to his claws, already feeling that he had messed up in a way.

"My siblings are delighted to see you," Saber stated, making Flare look up, only to see the earth dragon glaring at him, Cavice and Valie, before turning back to the large dragon. "Please excuse them. They are…nervous."

The large dragon nodded understandingly before turning to the other three again. "Please do not be shy, young dragons. I am not sure if Saber has told you about my rank or name but please, don't get nervous when speaking to me."

Flare turned to his claws again. _Well, if he said so…_

"Now," the large dragon continued calmly. "I am sorry, but I still haven't told you my name."

The large dragon cleared his throat before fixing the four young dragons in his sights, his calm gaze rubbing off some of Flare nervousness.

"My name is Ignitus and I am the Fire Guardian."

* * *

><p><strong>Firstly, again, extremely sorry about the delay of this chapter. I said on the last chapter that this one would "<span>hopefully<span>" take less time...I didn't really back that up, did I? xD But yes, I'm sorry about the wait, I hope the next chapter won't take as long.**

**Also, thanks to my reviewers again! :) I noticed that there were a couple of mistakes in that last chapter, I hope that didn't occur again in this one.**

**Ok, I guess that's all from me. I promise that the next chapter won't take as long. ;)**

**Until next time!**


	6. Chapter 6

Powerful winds whipped through The Valley of Avalar, ripping out colourful flowers, hurling them and small, sharp pebbles into their surroundings. Torrents of rain pelted down on the once-beautiful land, washing the roots of plants into the sea and drenching everything in sight. Vicious lightning etched through the sky, filling the silence with a low _boom_ sound.

Two nights.

Cavice allowed his head to rest in his paws, boredly, in the middle of a small, yet spacious room in Chief Prowlus's hut. The cheetah chief allowed them to stay the small room when the storm did not die out on the first half of day one, saying that dragons took too much room and that they only got in the way of things.

Though the blue dragon found himself slightly angry at the statement –and how the chief cheetah treated his brother- he couldn't find a reason to pass off the offer when the chief cheetah offered them a place away from cheetahs. Spyro did not complain, nor had he said a word, he only kept his vision on wet world outside, his expression plastered into one of worry.

The blue dragon turned his eyes to get a look at his restless purple dragon beside him. Spyro had his eyes staring dreamily at the back of the room, his gaze unwavering. He would only break his stare when a cheetah would enter the room to tell them something about the storm or to bring food.

Cavice could easily notice that the purple dragon was still worrying about Cynder. Every time a cheetah came to tell them the latest news or plans, he would ask about the black dragoness, only to have the cheetah slowly shake his or her head.

Each time the purple dragon would quietly thank the messenger and turn his attention back to the bland, wooden shelf that stood at the back of the room and not say another word.

The blue dragon found the silence almost unbearable most of the time and wanted to tell Spyro that his beloved, black dragoness was safe. The idea was quickly rejected when he felt his own confidence slip, when he heard about the reports of the weather.

With a sigh, Cavice nimbly pushed himself to his feet, before stretching out his cramping muscles and yawning as if he had just awoken from a deep, peaceful sleep - even though it was the exact opposite.

Spyro lifted his head suddenly when he saw movement on the side of his eye, before hastily turning to the blue dragon, a confused expression on his muzzle.

"Where are you going?" he asked softly, concern thick in his voice.

Cavice almost smiled. "I just wanted walk around a bit, maybe get a little wet to wake myself up and hopefully feel a bit _alive_."

Spyro chuckled slightly as he got to his feet, a smile on his muzzle. "Funny," he stated as he advanced on his younger brother, claws squelched quietly in the soft dirt.

"But please, don't go," he stated, his expression suddenly changing back to worry, his gaze locked onto the blue dragon's. "You know what has happened these past two days. If you go out in that storm, many tragic things can happen to you."

Cavice scowled slightly, he was telling him what to do.

_What got Spyro so worked up?_ He wondered, suspicion entering his mind. He was sure Spyro knew that a petty storm was not enough to put him in any kind of trouble.

Cavice's gaze narrowed onto his brother. He knew that there was something on the purple dragon's mind that he wasn't telling him, but what was it?

Before the blue dragon could ask, a familiar knock came from the door of the room.

Subconsciously, Cavice turned his head as the door opened, revealing a young-looking golden cheetah, who strode into the room with confidence.

The cheetah hardly gave any recognition of Cavice before he turned to Spyro.

"The chief requests your presence in the war room immediately," he stated swiftly. "I would recommend that you start leaving soon. He is not in the best of moods."

Spyro seemed to get anxious at the sound of the chief, as he began to paw the ground almost nervously. But it was such a subtle move that it was hardly even recognizable. Cavice doubted that the cheetah even saw it.

"Thank you for telling us. If you could, tell him that we'd be on our way," the purple dragon replied evenly.

The cheetah nodded before leaving the room.

Cavice found the silence that followed slightly calming. Nothing could be heard but the sound of voices and the echo of thunder outside. It was relaxing.

But as soon as he turned to Spyro, he immediately noticed the anxious look on his brother's expression again, as his gaze dropped to his claws.

_Ask him another time_, he told himself, feeling slightly sympathetic for the purple dragon. He had a lot of things on his mind, the last thing he would need at the _current_ time was questions from his younger brother. Even if the question was a good one.

Instead, he kept his gaze on the purple dragon, waiting until he said that they were going. A few more seconds ticked by before Spyro lifted his gaze and met the blue dragon's.

"Ready?" A quick, simple question.

Cavice allowed his emotion to show that he was calm before nodding.

Spyro nodded in return, before he took a few more silent steps to the door and opened it with a paw. He stepped through and held it open for the blue dragon, before closing it after him.

Cavice thanked him with a swift, short, smile before allowing his gaze to drag over the empty corridor they were now in. The chief's lustrous armor and battle prizes decorated even these parts of his massive house.

"Let's go," Spyro stated before he walked ahead. Cavice followed silently, allowing his gaze to drag boredly along the numerous decorations around him.

The blue dragon quickly found his gaze wandering to the most highest parts of Chief Prowlus' collection – the one area he never bothered to look in all his many short journeys through the corridor. To his slight surprise, he spotted a skull of a commander grublin, which seemed to outshine everything else on the top row.

Cavice's fixed his eyes on it, trying to pick up a flaw that might prove that Prowlus isn't as good of fighter as so many other cheetahs think.

He didn't find one.

The blue dragon let out a sigh as the chief's prize got out of his view. _He could not be that good, could he?_ He wondered, hoping he was wrong. He didn't bother to make a note to ask the chief. After all, they would only encourage another fight and he wasn't sure if Prowlus would be as nice as he was last time.

After a few more seconds, the two brothers came to another colourful beaded curtain, although this one was a few metres wider and stretched to the top of the house. Two cheetah warriors stood guard at the sides of the entrance of curtain, each holding a spear by their sides.

Cavice couldn't help but imagine why they would have so much security. He remembered the first time he and Flare visited the cheetah village and he only found one guard at the entrance. Were they planning for an attack?

The blue dragon kept the thought out of his mind as they approached the guards. The cheetah on the left gave the two dragons a quick look before looking away, seemingly uninterested by the sight of dragons. The other likewise gave the two a quick smile before inclining his head towards the curtain.

"The chief is not in a good mood, I would be cautious around him," he stated as the dragons drew closer.

Spyro nodded once before silently parting the curtain with a wing and entering, a look of calmness, clear on his muzzle.

Cavice stopped in front of the curtain and let out a loud sigh, before taking in a deep breath. He didn't like what he was he was going to do; facing a cheetah that hates your entire race without losing your temper was a hard thing for him to accomplish. But Spyro was going in there, and the blue dragon was not going to allow him to enter alone.

With another deep breath to calm his senses, the blue dragon entered, focusing purely on looking confident and calm.

The beads clicked after him as he entered the room. Instantly, the blue dragon allowed his gaze to wander around the room.

The room was irregularly large, it was around twenty metres length and fifteen metre width and was shaped as a rectangle. The room mainly consisted of a long, arch-shaped table that covered three fifths of the room. The remaining space around it was mostly empty and looked like it was used to allow several to move around the table at the same time. Several, small items scattered some of the empty spaces of the room. Cavice allowed himself to think that the chief allowed villagers into the room and had to clear it out for the short-noticed meeting.

Finally, the blue dragon focused on the occupants of the room and was surprised when he only saw Hunter and the chief – Prowlus, both around the circular edge of the table, further from the entrance and talked to each other in hushed voices. The chief cheetah had dark rings under his eyes, looking like he hadn't slept in days.

The blue dragon frowned slightly, he was expecting a full-scale meeting, not a small, pathetic one.

_This is going to be a waste of time_, Cavice thought bitterly as his eyes fell onto Spyro. The purple dragon was a few steps in front of him and looked as calm as a gentle stream of flowing water.

But streams are easily broken.

A surprised looked came from Prowlus when his gaze turned to Spyro, Hunter's gaze quickly following.

As soon as the chief gaze met his, Cavice tore his gaze away before focusing on a somewhat mismatched-looking plant that grew in the dark corner of the room. He did not even want to look the cheetah in the eye.

_I'm here for Spyro, not to hear a cheetah insult me_, he told himself, hoping that it would distract him from hearing what the chief had to say.

It didn't.

Prowlus' loud voice boomed through the room. "Why are you here!?"

A sense of confusion entered the Cavice's expression, forcing himself to keep his view on the strange plant though his mind was already filled with questions. He couldn't figure it out. Why should the chief ask the question in such an odd manner?

The warnings that the cheetah was in a bad mood was still clear in the blue dragon's mind, but why should he ask the question when _he_ was the one that organized the meeting.

The blue dragon heard Spyro stammer slightly, but the purple dragon replied calmly, though confusion was still in his voice. "We came because you called us to this meeting."

Another sweep of surprise entered the chief cheetah's expression before changing back to anger, as he opened his mouth to say something, but Hunter slid a golden paw onto his shoulder, stopping him from continuing.

"I organized the meeting," the golden cheetah stated calmly.

The chief cheetah almost immediately wacked the paw from off his shoulder before resting his head in his paws and messaging his temples.

"Why am I not surprised?"

A somewhat amused smile came to the Cavice's muzzle as he realized what had actually happened. But he didn't dwell on how the golden cheetah managed to trick the chief, but he began to think how obvious the answered was.

"It was straight-forward and obvious," he mumbled to himself, mentally scolding himself for not figuring it out for himself.

The blue dragon turned his attention back to the cheetahs, before quickly realizing that the look of frustration was still clear on the chief's expression but, when he looked closer, that the cheetah's movements were sluggish and slow. It made him wonder when was the last time the chief had slept well.

A silence filled the room for a few seconds, before Prowlus stopped messaging and stared directly at Hunter, his expression annoyed.

"So why did you call these dragons, Hunter? You know I hate to see them." Cavice could pick up the curiosity in the chief's voice, but couldn't ignore the anger, as tired as it sounded.

Hunter met the chief cheetah's gaze for a moment before turning to the dragons.

"The cheetahs of this village suggested that you should have a break from being head of the village for a short time." He turned back to the head cheetah. "They have noticed the tireless hours you have been working to get them a good meal and protection from the storm. They have asked me to take your place for a few hours while you rest."

Cavice tried his best to figure out Prowlus' expression but found it hard. He found the chief expression hardly change during the whole explanation, as if he was expecting it.

"But why had you asked these…dragons to come?" the darker-furred cheetah asked, gesturing with a paw to Spyro and Cavice as if to prove his point.

Hunter hardly glanced at them. "I have my reasons."

Prowlus seemed unpleased with the answer had got, his brows creasing to a thin line, but didn't push the golden cheetah any further.

"I will take my leave then," he stated, standing from his chair and looking at Hunter directly in the eyes. "I have full confidence that you can pull this off, Hunter. Don't make me feel a reason for that confidence to be misplaced." With that, the chief strode over to the exit.

Cavice stepped to the side to give the cheetah way. As he passed, their gazes met and the blue dragon was able to see how tired he actually was. The light in his eyes seemed to have slightly dimmed and the normal scornful look he gave him, lacked fierceness.

The blue dragon felt a pang of sympathy for the chief cheetah as he exited.

Nothing. Else.

With the darker furred cheetah gone, Cavice focused his attention on Hunter, his expression confused as a feeling of curiousness entered the blue dragon. He longed for this moment, the reason why the golden cheetah organized the meeting.

After a moment, Hunter turned to the two dragons, a small smile coming to his muzzle.

"It has been awhile since I have talked to either of you," he said, glancing from Spyro to Cavice, the smile still on his muzzle the entire way through.

"I think it's because you're constantly busy, helping the other villagers and Prowlus," Spyro replied kindly, a small, uncertain smile touched his muzzle.

Cavice thought of saying something, but, realizing what he was going to say suddenly struck him and instead he remain silent, knowing it would cause more harm than good.

Hunter gave the blue dragon a small, quick glance before continuing, his expression suddenly becoming seriously before he began to pace at the back of the room, his paw pads padding again soft carpet bellow.

"I am sorry you had to hear Prowlus…demand, so loudly. But if I explained why I called both of you here, that certainly would have angered him and arise a problem for all of us," he stated, turning his gaze to his paws.

Cavice grunted softly, hoping that the cheetah won't hear. _That's putting it mildly_, he thought sourly, scrunching his muzzle into a small frown.

A short silence settled upon the members of the room before Hunter turned to the dragons again, his expression darkening. "Now, I need to explain why I have brought the two of you here."

The golden cheetah switched his gaze from Spyro to turn to Cavice. "I have an important mission for the both of you, but Prowlus must not find out." His stern gaze narrowed onto the blue dragon, an accusing look entering his eyes.

Cavice found it a bit insulting, but he soon brushed it off with a slight shrug, knowing that it wasn't Hunter's intention.

The golden cheetah noticed his reaction and instead turned to Spyro. "I have brought the both of you here to ask of your assistance. Our village has been able to sustain the storm for the time being and food has been accomplished easily."

"But we have met a problem." He turned his gaze away from the dragon and began to pace again. "Each time one of our villagers goes out to hunt for food, he or she barely makes it back unscathed. The weight of the food slows them down and exhaustion makes them collapse."

The golden cheetah scowled grimly. "This is the reason Prowlus has not been able to get much sleep, these past nights. We are losing villagers out in that accused storm and we haven't had much help to deal with it."

"This is when you two come in," he stated, turning to them, his expression stern. "Prowlus never wanted to accept the help of dragons because of the grudge he has on your race. But I believe, now that I have taken his place as chief for a few hours, the help of dragons is inevitable."

Spyro stepped forward, his eyes set determinedly on the golden cheetah. "How can we help, Hunter?"

Cavice smiled slightly at his elder brother, the small feeling of jealously starting to well up inside of him, before he smothered it like an overripe fruit.

The blue dragon quickly turned his gaze away from the purple dragon and onto the golden cheetah, a feeling of disgust entering him. What was _he_ jealous of? Being nice? He was always proud of who he was, no matter how others thought of him.

Hunter seemed to relax a bit upon Spyro's words, as his body relaxed, a small smile coming to the golden cheetah's muzzle. "I just want you two to search for any living survivors and to return as soon as the storm becomes too much."

Spyro nodded firmly. "We will not disappoint you, Hunter," the purple dragon stated, a broad smile on his muzzle as he turned to leave.

"That is all I can ask for," stated the golden cheetah, the smile still on his muzzle.

Cavice allowed his emotion to not show as he stepped to the side to allow Spyro to pass. After the purple dragon had exited, he allowed his gaze to drag over to Hunter again, before nodding slightly and exiting.

When the long corridor came into the blue dragon's view again, he noticed that Spyro was already a few metres away. Desperation filling his actions, the blue dragon turned to his left the guard – the one who did not ignore him - and gave a quick nod of thanks, before rushing after the purple dragon.

It took a few seconds before Cavice caught up to him, at the time, the two were almost at the exit of the house. The purple dragon had his eyes set determinedly in front of him, his emotion unreadable, as he took quickened steps through the narrow corridor, passing small groups of cheetahs.

After a few more seconds the two dragons were at the entrance to Prowlus' home. There, the two dragons could see straight to the outside storm. The sound of pouring rain and low booms of thunder grew louder as they approached.

It somewhat relived Cavice to see the outside world, it seemed like it had been an eternity since he had smelt the cool, fresh air outside. But with that feeling came another.

Worry.

Cynder and Flare were still out in the storm, most likely battling to stay alive, while he and Spyro were in a nice, warm house where they could eat their fill. The thought filled the blue dragon with guilt.

The two dragons stopped a metre away from the exit, staring at the world outside. Here, Cavice could feel the raging gusts of wind and small droplets of water peppered his flanks and muzzle.

Spyro turned to Cavice, his gaze stern and unwavering. "Cavice, while we're outside there, I don't want either of us splitting up - that would most likely get us lost. No flying either, the wind would most likely blow us off course, if not worse." He stated evenly.

_What does he think I am? A hatchling?_ Cavice thought, slightly grimacing.

Spyro didn't seem to noticed the blue dragon's reaction, as he turned his gaze back to the storm. "We are going to search every cave we find, hoping the cheetahs would take shelter in them."

Cavice's eyes narrowed slightly. "You're hoping to find Cynder and Flare as well, aren't you?"

Spyro remained silent for a couple of seconds. "It's not our objective, but if we manage to find them…" he trailed off.

Cavice decided not to push the purple dragon any further, as he followed the purple dragon's gaze, staring boredly at the rain, as it down poured on the soft soil, before flowing like a river to a small body of water.

As the thunder boomed again, the blue dragon grimaced again. He knew this mission was going to be full of displeasure. He could already imagine it, trudging through filthy mud, getting his glimmering aqua-blue scales full of it, while barely managing to stay upright against the wind.

_I can't wait,_ Cavice thought sarcastically, allowing his eyes to drop to his claws.

"Ready?" Spyro asked, turning towards him.

The question caught Cavice off guard by the suddenness, but he managed to recover quickly, before nodding.

Together, the two dragons dashed out into the powerful storm, away from their shelter and into a forest of nearby trees.

It was exhilarating. The feeling of the powerful, cold gusts of wind, mixed with the cold downpour of rain and the soft, wet soil, sent a shiver down Cavice's spine. But it was strange, when he found the feeling an unknown pleasure, as if he liked the cold.

The blue dragon brushed the thought off, as the two dragon's began to pick up the speed of their sprint. They brushed past multiple, rain-covered leaves and undergrowth, narrowly dodged past trunks of trees and even jumped over fallen trees as they continued their run.

After a few seconds, the two dragons drew to a halt, deep in the forest. Both were panting as they struggled to get their breath back, small smiles planted on their muzzles as they looked at each other.

Cavice turned his gaze to the ground, still panting. Why did he like that? Maybe being cooped up in a small room for a few days made the blue dragon want to run.

It took a couple of minutes before the two ceased their panting and continued walking.

Flat, wet grass squelched under his paws as Cavice turned his gaze to his left, searching for any cave that might be good enough for shelter. When the minutes ticked by with no sign of success, he soon found his own thoughts wandering as a small sense of worry and betrayal came over him.

What if they did not find a single cheetah? What if the entire mission was some sort of trap, a set up? What if it was a ploy to make the dragons leave? And, most importantly, what if they die?

Although the blue dragon doubted the last thought, a small part of him still persisted on telling him to stay alert and aware of the weather and the direction of the wind, for fears that it could forcefully open their wings and carry them into the air before buffeting them into trees and rocks.

Cavice began to grow impatient as they continued to silently pad across the forest. It took another few minutes before the faint smell of bitter smoke reached his nostrils. He couldn't detect the exact direction of the smell because the ferocious wind continued to blow from all directions, blending the smell in with those of bitter-smelling plants.

The blue dragon instantly turned a glance to his elder brother who was a few paces ahead of him. The purple dragon also seemed to have picked up the scent, because he stopped abruptly a moment later, fixing his gaze into a direction of the forest.

"Did you smell that?" he asked, turning his gaze to Cavice.

The blue dragon nodded, before he turned in the direction Spyro was looking at.

_That smell must be coming from a fire,_ he thought. _Creatures build fires to keep themselves warm and to cook, which could mean… _

The blue dragon didn't have enough time to finish his thought before Spyro suddenly took off sprinting in the direction – or what he thought was the direction – of the smell.

Cavice carelessly followed the purple dragon, a feeling of delight coming over him from the only success they have had in the entire day.

It was another few minutes before they came to a halt again, this time in front of a grey cave, which had no vegetation or growth around it and looked like it held no signs of life. If it wasn't for the smell of the smoke that poured out from the cave, the blue dragon may have overlooked it without a second thought.

The constant murmuring of several voices inside the cave clarified the presence of others as they seemed to echo back to the entrance, where the two dragons were.

Cavice allowed himself to slightly smile at the sign of success as he turned to Spyro, who inclined his head towards the cave before walking towards it. The blue dragon paused for a moment, allowing the smile to wear off and, taking in a deep breath of cold, fresh air, followed the purple dragon silently.

The thin, straight tunnel was humid, filled with warm, moist air. Every step the blue dragon took away from the storm, he felt the temperature inside the cave get hotter.

_How did they manage to make this place so warm?_ He wondered, his gaze wandering over the rough, rocky edges of the cave walls.

Although the blue dragon did not want to admit it, he found that the cave reminded him of the underground tunnels of Malefor's secret lair. He did not dwell on the thought however, knowing that it would only bring back bad memories. Ones that he wanted to forget.

For now.

When the two got to a chamber-like part of the cave which was shaped like a rough arc, Cavice's mouth fell open slightly, before he realized it and closed it with a subtle grunt. Spyro seemed to have a similar reaction. Inside the arc chamber was a group of cheetah, camped around a three metre-high bright fire that hissed and crackled, spreading a dim glow through the chamber.

The chamber itself was slightly over thirty metres in length and width and was empty from any natural rock, making it look barren and extremely spacious.

The group inside, consisted of slightly over ten mature, full-grown cheetahs; all were heavily armed with jagged-pointed spears that looked like it could deal a substantial wound to any known creature. Most beheld scars that etched over their bodies and looked as if they had been in a ferocious battle. They were talking in loud, jolly voices, chatting to each other and laughing as each told a joke or two.

The blue dragon could easily understand the jokes but it wasn't even remotely funny for him. _If these are the hunters that were sent out, then shouldn't they be trying to find their way back to the village, not telling jokes?_ The thought stirred up a small amount of anger inside him, but he quickly extinguished it. Though there was a large chance that these were the hunters, a small amount of doubt stopped Cavice from making a rash move.

The cheetahs hadn't noticed the dragons, so they could easily avoid a possible conflict.

But Cavice knew he wasn't exactly a people-person – though he hated to admit it – and instead stole a quick glance at Spyro, a thoughtful expression on his muzzle. The purple dragon was better at dealing with situations like these, the blue dragon would most likely just mess it up.

A surprised expression came over his features when he found the purple dragon's gaze downcast towards his claws, his muzzle scrunched in disappointed. But it soon dissipated, as if it wasn't there at all and was an illusion.

Then, the purple dragon stepped towards the group of cheetahs, his stride filled with confidence, paws padding the stone silently and his expression, bright and welcoming.

The cheetahs instantly stopped their laughter and chatting, when they noticed the dragons' presence. Some reached for their weapons, seemingly on instinct, while others allowed their bodies to relax and let out a short exchange of words to the armed cheetahs. After a moment, they lowered their weapons to the ground and stared at the dragons curiously.

"Spyro? Is that you?" an red-furred cheetah stated, his expression surprised. The cheetah was on the opposite side of the fire and looked more like a healer than a warrior.

Spyro seemed to recognise the cheetah instantly. "Meadow?"

The red cheetah smiled. "I never thought I would have seen you so soon, chief Prowlus made it clear that he did not want anyone to have contact with you two." He turned his gaze to Cavice, making the blue dragon shy away slightly. "Which means you are Cavice." He shrugged. "Shame you vanished as soon as you came last time. You could have made a name for yourself just like your younger brother."

Cavice didn't need to turn to know that Spyro was staring at him, wanting to know the answer to the silent question he had asked. With a quick glance to the purple dragon, he waved a dismissive paw and turned back to Meadow.

"I had my reasons."

The red cheetah nodded, before turning his gaze back to Spyro. "It must have been bad for Prowlus to send to two of you to rescue us. That is the reason you are here, right?"

Spyro nodded. "He looked like he hadn't slept in days. He must have been extremely worried about all of you."

Meadow smiled again before nodding and turning to the other cheetahs, who were watching their conversation with great interest. "I think I speak for everyone when I say that it was only because of luck that we are still alive."

The other cheetahs nodded their heads in agreement. A large, muscular brown-furred cheetah with a long, thick spear and a partly ripped green tunic stood up.

"Not everything was luck, Meadow," he said gruffly and turned to the other cheetahs, a paw pointing to Meadow. "If it weren't for Meadow, _all_ of us would not be alive."

Meadow seemed to blush and turned away shyly from the comment before turning back to the dragons.

"I'd explain everything later. But, for the time being, why don't the two of you rest?" the red cheetah suggested, switching his gaze from Spyro to Cavice. "There is another chamber just slightly further deeper, it is a perfect place to rest."

"What?" Spyro exclaimed, his relaxed posture vanishing as he swung his head from Meadow to the other cheetahs, then back to Meadow. "Prowlus is worried about all of you. Shouldn't we leave now?"

Meadow's upbeat expression faltered when Spyro mentioned the chief cheetah, his gaze turning downcast. "We would all like to do that, Spyro, but this storm would tear us apart." His gaze turned back to the cheetahs around him, his gaze meeting each of theirs.

Cavice followed the red cheetah's gaze and immediately noticed that some of the cheetahs had noticeable injuries. The blue dragon spotted a young, golden cheetah that look like he had a sprained ankle and didn't move much, it made the blue dragon embarrassed that he had not noticed it before.

The red cheetah turned back to the dragons. "We have injured that would not last a minute out there."

Spyro immediately turned his head away, his eyes downcast in disappointment and slight rage.

"I'm sorry I had not noticed, Meadow."

Meadow smiled again. "Don't attack yourself, Spyro. It's a common mistake."

The chamber fell silent after that, the only sound coming from the crackling fire.

It gave Cavice time to think through what had just occurred and get his thoughts in order.

_So, we still haven't found Flare and Cynder, we can't go anywhere until the storm is over, Hunter is only going to be chief for one night and when we return we are most likely going to be insulted by Prowlus, even if Hunter tries to take the blame._ The thought brought grim amusement to the blue dragon as he smiled and shook his head slowly. _What have I gotten myself into?_

The blue dragon then allowed his gaze to drag around the chamber, so that he could examine it more closely. It didn't take him long to notice the other tunnel to the other chamber, Meadow told them about and he felt a strange longing to rest, even though he had been doing it for days on end.

Meadow seemed to notice where the blue dragon was looking and gestured with a paw to the tunnel. "You are still welcome to rest in the chamber at the back."

Cavice nodded his head once, before turned his body in the direction of the tunnel. His soft paw pads padded against the hard stone softly as he strode over to it. The chamber was silent as he turned around the start of the tunnel before giving a quick nod to Meadow and Spyro and walking down it.

It was dark and silent as he made his way through the thin cave of rock. Cavice noticed that the top of the tunnel was an arch in shape and looked like it has been polished. The blue dragon made a mental note to ask Meadow about it, before he turned to the front of him again.

It took him another minute before he saw a strange blue-tinted light ahead of him. Mystified, the blue dragon picked up his pace until he could see that the light was coming from a chamber ahead. Realizing that this was the chamber Meadow was talking about, Cavice entered it quickly.

What he saw surprised him.

The chamber was two domes. The larger, more spacious one, was three-quarters of the chamber and looked like it had been polished, just like the entrance. It was around half the size of the chamber where he and Spyro entered. Inside, hanging from the ceiling of the smooth chamber were several smooth-looking stalactites and fewer stalagmites on the floor. Lodged inside some of the icicle-shaped rocks were strange blue crystals, which provided the light.

The smaller dome was at the far end of the large dome, on the opposite side from where Cavice enter and looked like it was even smoother than the previous dome. It made up the remaining quarter of the chamber.

When Cavice's gaze dropped to the ground, he was thankful to see that the floor did not look polished. He was worried that if it was, that it would feel like he was walking on ice.

Cautiously, he took a hesitant step into the larger dome. Feeling safe, he took a few more steps in and continued until he had reached the middle of the dome. From here, as he stared through the smaller dome, he noticed something that he had not noticed before.

Writing.

There was writing at the opposite end of the smaller dome. Cavice could not make out the words from the distance he was from it, but he could make out that the writing had an eerie blue glow to it and was written in a poem form.

Suddenly feeling curious and excited, the blue dragon took off at a slow jog to the end of the chamber. When he was within range to read it, he stopped abruptly and narrowed his eyes on the writing.

When Cavice began to read it, he found himself more confused than before. There was one this for sure, it _was_ a poem…at least, it _looked_ like it. The blue dragon could not suppress the growl of annoyance that soon followed, a scorn coming to his muzzle. Even though he considered himself good with languages – or even, the best – he knew that there was one language that he didn't know everything about.

The ancient dragon language.

The origins of the language are unknown, except for the fact that dragons used it to send secret messages to each other during times of war. The language was forgotten over time at the start of the hundred-year war which Malefor started, as the teachers of the language were either dead or dying. For any of those that were lucky to learn it and were unharmed, they normally found themselves on the front lines of battle.

It was _this_ language that the poem was written in, which annoyed Cavice further.

He had learnt everything about languages by book and by memorizing them, but any information about the ancient language of the dragons – as Cavice normally found it named – were highly rare and the blue dragon had not learnt everything about it, from them.

The blue dragon stood, staring at the hieroglyphics with confusion and annoyance for a few moments, before he closed his eyes and tried to remember anything about reading it. He was surprised to find the translation of some of the symbols, but not much else.

After a few more moments, he opened his eyes and stared back at the poem, suddenly feeling a new understanding about it, before he began to read it as best as he could.

It was a few moments before he finished trying to read the poem, in which he his lack of understanding of the language failed him miserably. The only thing he could successfully translate was the title: The Light of Life. Everything else about it looked like smudges or distinctive lines to his aqua-blue eyes.

With a snort of annoyance, the blue dragon turned away from the poem and, instead, turned to the blue crystals. He had not seen these types of crystals in a long time. Last time he had encountered anything similar to them were the other, more pale, blue crystals, which were rare.

The ones Cavice were seeing looked more of an aqua-blue than a sky blue and did not have the same feeling when he went towards them.

With a sigh, the blue dragon lowered his body until he rest on his haunches before closing his eyes. Maybe after a quick sleep, he might be able to translate the poem, or better, the storm could have ended.

His last thoughts of finding Flare and Cynder gradually faded, as his world was enveloped by darkness.

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><p><strong>It really has been too long. ^^; Um, sorry about the wait, I really don't have any excuses so, please, forgive me.<strong>

**Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I sure enjoyed writing it. ^^ I know it's not as long as the last and considering the wait, I feel ultimately guilty. ^^; But, I guess this is how it kinda turned out, I hope I didn't disappoint. **

**As for my reviewers, big thank you for reviewing, I hope you don't stop. x)**

**Also, I've got a new poll up, this one is going to be up for awhile so there really is no rush about voting, but I would really appreciate it. ^^**

**I guess that's it for me, hopefully the next chapter would be up soon. Notice the keyword: "hopefully"? x)**

**Until next time.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Long time no see. ^^; This chapter took so long to write because I got writer's block 75% of the time, not to mention that school blocked the amount I can write at one time. Sorry for the wait and please enjoy. **

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><p>Cynder did not know which way was up from down.<p>

The world around her seemed to spin and twirl around as if she had just flown a spiral aerial stunt. Colours were mixed into colours, image into image. She could not even recognize where she was and when she got here. Last thing she remembered was being inside a storm. Instead, she closed her eyes to stop herself from getting dizzy.

Except, she couldn't.

Suddenly surging with panic, she soon realized that she could not move any part of her body. She attempted to move her head or to flap her wings, but to no avail. It felt like someone else was controlling her every move and forcing her to see a spiraling twirl of colours, and she was some kind of twisted puppet.

Then, as soon as it came, it stopped.

The colours merged and mended together until a clear image of Avalar was formed into existence. The amount of trees, shrubs, flowers and calm, flowing rivers the black dragoness saw astounded her. A cool, soft breeze twirled past ivory flowers, wafting its sweet scent into the air and from elsewhere, birds chirped as the steady flow of the river rushed bellow them.

For the black dragoness, it looked like she was on a massive hill that towered over the canyon. None of her surroundings seemed any bit familiar, confusing her. She felt a slight worry creeping into her being, she often relied on memory to help her out in these occasions but she could not recall a thing.

It then occurred to her, that it might be a different part of Avalar. She relaxed again, the only place the two went in their adventure was the valley. Still, the surrounding land amazed her and she knew if she had to explain what it looked like, she wouldn't be able to.

Suddenly, the black dragoness' entire vision zoomed in from the vast landscape onto the side of a large, rocky mountain which hung to the side of the valley. The mountain was easily hundreds of metres tall and was brown in colour. Moss hung from what seemed to be random parts and hung at places like vines.

Her vision stopped when the mountain towered over her, its shadow casting her into darkness. It was here that Cynder could make out a strange paw-print in the rock. The size of the paw looked like it was made there by an adult dragon. Small cracks and dents ran from the paw-shape print to across a small area of the mountain, which cut off after a short distance and ran up.

Cynder found it the print oddly familiar and, deep inside, she felt that she had been here before.

But…when?

Could she have come here when she was under the control of The Dark Master? She knew it was possible, but she could not figure out why, the valley looked far too peaceful and, from what she could see, there were no villages nearby.

So, why?

Suddenly, a voice broke the sense of tranquility that had settle had upon her, startling her. _"Meet me here, tomorrow."_

On reaction, she tried to turn her head and look around for the source, but to no avail. The voice seemed to be coming from her mind and seemed echoed through her consciousness.

_Who are you?_ The words did not leave here mouth, yet she knew that she somehow projected the words.

There was a long, draw-out silence that lasted for a few seconds before the voice returned.

_A friend. _

Then, as soon as it came, the whole world faded into darkness.

*.*.*

Cynder let out a soft groan as she raised her head off the stone ground, before taking a quick swipe of the cave she was in.

She had found it after searching for a few minutes, when the storm began to pick up. She thanked the ancestors that she had found one when the storm was at its weakest. The cave was only a few metres in length but, so far it had served its purpose well. Inside was completely barren of anything but rock, which comforted her and set her at ease, she did not think she had the strength to clear it.

The black dragoness found her gaze drifting down to the crimson red dragon that was resting beside a fire she had built. Cynder couldn't help but smile slightly at how relaxed and tranquil Flare was, his breath coming out in deep puffs, clear in the cold air. A small smile was on his muzzle as he dreamt of an unknown world.

Carrying Flare was a burden after he had fainted; the storm did not as much as help the matter. The first thing Cynder did realize when she had decided to take him back with her – why would she leave him alone when a storm was approaching, anyway - was that he was _heavy_. She had made a mental note to tell him to 'lose some weight', but upon arriving at the cave and resting him on the ground, she decided against it.

Pleased to see that nothing was out of the ordinary, she rested her head back down and allowed herself to think of the dream she just had.

_Was that even a dream?_ She wondered, allowing her gaze to drop onto her paws. Strangely the 'dream' did not feel anything like one. It felt almost real, as if someone really was controlling her every movement. The larger part of the black dragoness was thankful that it was not true, but the other thought it could have been an actual dream.

The black dragoness continued to ponder the subject for a few minutes, before she decided that she was getting herself more and more confused and pushed it to the back of her mind. She then turned to the cave entrance, before a scowl came over her muzzle upon realizing that it was still storming outside.

_I wonder how Spyro's doing?_ She wondered, her gaze dragging absently back to Flare. She had not paid too much attention to Flare, but now he was right in front of her, she realized how different the two brothers actually were.

When she had first met Flare, she had thought that the red dragon was similar to Spyro. But now, she could see that it was almost the opposite. True, they both shared remarkable similar crests and horns, but, Flare had less build than Spyro and looked a bit smaller.

Suddenly, the loud, low booming sound of thunder echoed through the small cave, startling Cynder. She tensed her body, preparing herself for an invisible foe. She waited a few moments, in which nothing happened, before the black dragoness allowed her body to relax.

"Why am I so jumpy?" she asked herself softly, being careful to not wake Flare up. Unconsciously, she felt her gaze drag back onto Flare, the memory of her early encounter with him returning.

_Could it be because-_ her eye narrowed on the red dragon, her anger rising slightly. Was she scared of Flare?

She shook her head, clearing herself of her thoughts. No, she could easily outclass him again…even if he does go into his dark form again – though she doubted it.

Remembering back to the encounter, Cynder found the fight with the red dragon easy. Flare had not even seemed to be trying or, if so, had gotten _much_ worse than he was when he fought against Tyrant or Shade. It made the black dragoness slightly worry about him, maybe there was something wrong? Something he wasn't telling anyone and keeping only to himself.

Her thoughts were disrupted by another low boom of thunder, shortly followed by a quiet grunt from beside her. The grunt startled her, before she turned her head to locate the source of it. She was slightly surprised to see Flare awake. His actions were sluggish as he quickly scanned the cave, his expression in clear confusion.

Cynder couldn't help but smile in amusement at the other dragon's confusion and decided against showing herself – since Flare still hadn't looked behind him and, therefore, hadn't seen her.

After a few moments, the red dragon's head sagged a bit, before he laid his head in his paws silently. His body moved slightly so that he was facing the fire, but didn't make an attempt to check behind him.

Silently, Cynder padded until she was at Flare's side, before placing a paw on the red dragon's shoulder. As expected, his body jerked slightly in surprise but any other reaction was unseen by Cynder. The red dragon soon turned his gaze to her, before relaxing at the sight of her and turning away to the fire, not saying a word.

A smile split the black dragoness' muzzle as she sat down beside him, before following his gaze. "I was surprised you didn't look completely around when you woke up," she stated, a small chuckle emitting from her throat.

Flare didn't make any reaction if he heard and continued to stare blankly at the fire.

A worried expression came over Cynder's muzzle as she tried to peer around to look at the red dragon's face. "Flare?"

Nothing.

_Why is he ignoring me?_ She wondered, her muzzle scrunched into a scowl. He should at least be thanking her for saving him - it was not easy, after all. She felt her anger rise as her scowl deepened. What had she done to deserve being ignored?

Flare's eyes quickly glanced at the black dragoness, as if noticing her anger before turning back to the flame.

"Why?" the words were barely audible.

Cynder had to strain her ears to hear it, though even after, it confused her.

"What?" she asked, attempting to see past the red dragon's masked emotions.

The red dragon suddenly swung his head around until he was facing the black dragoness and stared directly into her eyes.

"Why did you rescue me?" he suddenly shouted, pushing himself to his feet as the blank expression wore off, getting replaced with one of anger and something else Cynder couldn't decipher.

Sadness?

The red dragon didn't give the black dragoness enough time to say a word before he started again, tearing his gaze momentary away from the other dragon and onto his paws. "Why did you rescue me?" he repeated, quieting his voice. "I-I'm a horrible dragon, Cynder. I should have died then and there. I've tried to keep that dark form inside of me, conceal it away, so I couldn't hurt anyone else. But then look what happens; I get angry over something so stupid to allow to cloud my vision and I almost hurt you!" he slammed a forepaw to emphasize the point, a quiet sob leaving his throat.

The sob caught Cynder's attention as she gaze directly at the red dragon. Even though his face was turned away from her, she could easily see the tension throughout his entire body and she wouldn't be in the slightest surprised if he broke down in front of her at that moment. She knew it was hopeless to try to stop it or try to avoid it; any words she would say would soon be denied or rejected by the red dragon. So, she waited.

And wait…and waited…waited.

For what seemed like hours, the red dragon did not move from the spot he was in, neither did he say anything, he just stopped. A silence settled upon the two dragons in the room, where the only sounds came from the fire that persisted to spit and crackle in the dim cave. The thunder seemed to have stopped, but the patter of the rain hadn't faded and continued to pound on the soft dirt outside.

It was a few moments before Flare finally moved to sit down. In that small movement, Cynder caught a glimpse of his expression, hoping to find it had changed. To her disappointment, it had not.

Another short silence settled upon them. Cynder used it to get to her feet as silently as she could and within two long strides, looked out at the outside world, not really thinking of anything important.

A low rumbling sound from her stomach made her think otherwise though. She instantly blushed and on reaction, she placed a paw over it, hoping to somehow subdue it. It had been days since she had eaten anything other than small berries, fruits or any small animal that entered the cave, seeking shelter from the storm. She then turned back to Flare, to see his fiery coloured eyes looking in her direction, no doubt heard it.

He stared blankly at the black dragoness for a moment then, with a soft scuffle of dirt, the red dragon got to his feet again, before striding over to where Cynder was. Without saying a word or even looking in her direction, he continued past the black dragoness and stopped at the edge of the cave, where small droplets of rain splashed against his paws.

"I'm going to get some food," he stated simply, turning to face Cynder. "Don't come after me or even _dare_ worry." His eyes narrowed sternly, his jaw tightening, widening his scowl. "Understand?"

Although his words were deathly quiet, the anger and venom that were succumbed in them would frighten most dragons and make them cower in fear of the red dragon.

But after being a slave for the Dark Master, being forced to - against her will – kill innocent creatures and leave destruction in her wake - Cynder wasn't the faintest bit fazed.

She was not a normal dragon.

Instead, she kept a blank, steady gaze on him, meeting his gaze without saying a word for a moment, before taking a shallow breath and turning to the fire, not bearing to look at the red dragon for any longer.

"Yes, I understand. You feel like you want to make it up to me, take your anger out on something else, most likely the 'food' you're going to most likely hunt." She kept her gaze still for another moment, before turning her towards the red dragon, meeting his gaze with complete calmness. "But think about what you are doing, Flare. If you go out there, that storm is going to rip you to shreds. Then what am I supposed to tell Spyro when this is all over? He was out hunting?!"

The air was filled with another low boom of thunder, as if it was emphasizing the black dragoness' point.

Flare stared blankly at her for a long moment before turning his gaze away and looking out into the rain again, his body almost perfectly still.

Cynder kept her gaze on the red dragon, interested on seeing how he would react. She was aware that he normally allows his emotions to cause his actions– latest events an example. She has seen that he allows his emotions to run free in more than one occasion.

Another minute passed in silence, where nothing seemed to happen, before the younger dragon inhaled deeply and exhaled. He suddenly turned back to the black dragoness, meeting her gaze with a new sense of calm and clarity. "You're right," he stated softly, slowly dipping his head until he was facing his paws again.

The red dragon took a few steps back into the cave until he was in the radiance of the fire's heat, but at the point where the light barely reached him, before he sat down. The flames reflected off his eyes, seemingly lighting them up as his gaze locked onto the fire.

Cynder stared blankly at the red dragon for a moment, before slowly turning her gaze away and following his gaze onto the fire. She allowed her mind to wander for a few seconds, allowing herself to think up some questions so that they were not sitting in silence again.

But before she could voice one, she could not hold back the large yawn, before rubbing her eyes warily, apparently feeling exhausted. It had not occurred to her that she was tired, although it was not a surprise. After all, she _did_ just trudge through powerful storm while carrying a dragon that was around the same size as her.

Flare noticed it and turned to the black dragoness, his emotion somewhat cheerful. He then opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. As if on a second thought, he turned away almost shyly and distracted himself by looking at the fire, although it was obvious that his attention was elsewhere.

Cynder looked at the red dragon, confused, but chose not to comment. Instead, she rested her chin on the back of her paws in a bored gesture, but kept her eyes on Flare.

She kept her gaze steadily on him as her eyes narrowed. _What was he going to say?_ _Why would he even stop himself from saying it? _The thought that it could have been something offending entered the black dragoness' mind. She agreed that it was the reason.

The thought almost made the black dragoness chuckle out loud, but she managed to prevent anything but a low cough-like sound, which she was sure convincing. _Maybe he cares about me_. Another cough-like laugh.

"You're staring," Flare stated dully, startling the black dragoness, making her jump to her feet in surprise. After a moment, the red dragon turned back to the fire without saying another word. The bright flames dance across his eyes, blending his own eye colour in with the flickering, dancing movements of the fire.

"Are you tired?" he suddenly asked, not taking his gaze off the fire. "You never seemed to stare back at Warfang."

Cynder noticed that the red dragon kept his emotions clearly masked as he said it, which concerned her. Throughout the time she had known him, he had not hesitated to show his emotions, even at the times when talking to the guardians or other adults. He never hesitated to say what and why he disliked or liked the idea, he would even interrupt.

The black dragoness sighed and turned away to gather her thoughts on the question. The question itself was rather normal one, but she knew that Flare wanted more than a yes or no answer. After a moment she turned back to the red dragon as calmly as she could.

"I'm just surprised about your actions, Flare. Fine, yes, I'm tired, but-" she stopped mid-sentence when Flare raised a paw in gesture. A smile planted on his muzzle as his eyes finally left the flame.

"Cynder, I asked if you were tired or not. Not anything else," he said casually before turning back at the fire, as if unable to hold the dragoness' gaze.

"I think you should rest then. It would take some time before the storm clears up, not to mention that it doesn't look we're going anywhere…"

Cynder studied the red dragon for a few seconds before nodding. "Good idea." She then rested her head in her paws and closed her eyes.

Minutes after, she was asleep.

*.*.*

By the time Cynder awoke, it was early morning; the sun had barely risen as birds softly sang their songs in the light. Although in the dark interior of the cave, it seemed almost night.

The black dragoness yawned loudly, stretching her cramping legs as she took in a fresh gulp of warm air, relaxing her senses. The morning seemed perfect and although there was evidence of the earlier storm, things seemed relaxed.

Cynder quickly took a quick sweep of the cave and realized that Flare was asleep, his soft snoring being carried by the wind through the fresh air.

The black dragon quickly diverted her gaze to outside, rolling her eyes. Some guy, she thought sarcastically. _Even after resting a great deal last night, I still find him sleeping. _

She kept her thoughts away from the red dragon and the day before. Instead, she kept her mind on the mysterious dream she had, having not forgotten the words the voice had said to her: _"Meet me here, tomorrow." _

A sort of warm shiver ran down her spine, causing her to relax subconsciously. She didn't know why, but she felt that the voice seemed familiar.

She shook her head, trying to clear her head of the thought. _That's stupid_, she told herself. _Who do I know that can talk though minds?_ As she continued to think about it, the amused she got and could not help the small chuckle that escaped her mouth.

A low murmuring beside her quickly followed the chuckle and she turned her head to find Flare awake, one eye open staring at her in a confused expression. He didn't waste a moment to push himself upright and yawn, stifling it half-way politely and rubbing his tired eyes with the back of a forepaw.

"Good morning, sleepy-head," Cynder greeted, a mocking tone think in her voice.

Flare blinked blankly at her for a moment before resting his chin on the back of his paws, his gaze lazily dragging to the dirt in front of him. "Please tell me you're acting, trying to make me forget about yesterday," he stated blankly.

Cynder snorted in amusement, padding her way until she was a metre away from the red dragon's right flank. "You're a genius now, aren't you?"

The red dragon smiled in return, seemingly unaffected by the obvious sarcasm in her voice. "Well, thank you."

Cynder rolled her eyes, annoyed by his witty comment. "Whatever, but we have to find Spyro and Cavice now while we don't have heavy gusts trying to pull our wings out of their sockets." A dangerous glint entered her eye. "If you don't mind, of course".

When she did not hear a reply, she began walking to the exit of the cave, expecting Flare to follow. She was surprised when she didn't feel his presence beside her after she had felt the warm sun against her ebony scales. Irritated, she turned back to where she was, to see that Flare hadn't moved from his earlier position.

Cynder tried to hide the scorn as she tilted her head slightly questioningly. "You coming?"

Flare avoided meeting the black dragoness' gaze and stared at his paws again. For a few moments he did not say anything, seemingly arranging his thoughts into words. Then suddenly, "Do you have the dream as well?"

The question caught the black dragoness off guard as she stumbled back a step in surprise. _No way…_she thought. _He surely couldn't have…_

Having his question answered by the black dragoness' reaction, Flare got to his feet with fearfully energy, his eyes wide. "You did? So you saw the huge mountain with a paw-shaped imprint in the rock? Did you hear that voice as well, that said-"

"-'meet me here tomorrow'," Cynder finished, her own eyes wide with surprise. Already her mind was filled with questions that jumped, bounced and twisted in her head. Most not having to have enough information for a suitable answer, but in between the dozen of questions, one stood above the rest.

_Who could have done this?_

The amount of energy needed to do such a thing to more than one dragon, to show a realistic image of an area, zooming in onto a certain spot and _talk_ to them must be enormous.

"Should we listen to it?" Flare asked.

Cynder shrugged. "I don't really know. The voice seemed nice enough to me and I have a strange feeling that I have heard it before."

Flare's eyes widened again. "Same."

The black dragoness gave him a dubious look. "You're kidding?"

Flare almost immediately started to shake his head but stopped it half-way and instead said a quiet "no", directing his attention to his paws again.

Cynder gave the red dragon another questionable look, but wisely chose not to comment and directed her attention onto various plants and trees outside. A small frown of uncertainty crept on her muzzle as she recalled the voice again.

"_A friend."_

_How can I trust that this stupid voice is a friend?_ She asked herself, annoyed. _Just because I feel like I can trust it, does not make it safe! But what other choice do I have at this time? We could return back to the cheetah village?_

Reality suddenly hit her, her gaze narrowing dangerously on the vegetation surrounding the cave, eyes trying to recall any familiar tree or brush. _Heck, I don't even know where I am, _she thought, slamming a forepaw on the ground in frustration. The only thing she could recognize was the massive mountain that shadowed a large portion valley. Her eyes narrowed on the large landform. _It had to be there, didn't it?_

_Letting a quiet sigh, she turned her gaze back to Flare. "We should get g_oing."

The red dragon looked up to face the black dragoness. "Where?"

Cynder shrugged. "I guess we're going to that mountain."

"So we're…" he stopped midsentence, having his question answered when Cynder nodded her head and a small smile split his muzzle, his eyes lighting up in excitement. "Awesome."

Cynder rolled her eyes but could not stop the amused smile that came to her muzzle. "You do know that normal dragons would try to go _away_ from creepy mountain that our dream told us about?"

Flare smile widened. "You know I'm not normal, Cynder."

Cynder was not sure if he was complementing himself or the opposite and wisely chose to avoid the subject altogether. Instead, she turned out into the open forest that lay at the mouth of the cave, content to watch how the trees swished in the wind, filling the air with the sharp natural sound.

Slowly, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply and organized her thoughts. After a long moment, she opened her eyes and turned back to Flare who had advanced a couple of paces towards her. The expression on his muzzle was clearly inquisitive, but Cynder chose to ignore it.

"Come on, let's go!" she said, thrusting her head in the direction of their destination.

Flare nodded with a smile. "You first."

Cynder smiled in return before she spread her magenta wings and took flight, the early morning air whipping against her muzzle as she gain altitude. It didn't take long until she heard common sound of wings beating the air behind her and she knew that Flare had taken flight.

She then turned her gaze back onto the mountain ahead of them, her eyes narrowing on the area between them and the landform, judging the distance between. She had guessed that the flight might take slightly over ten minutes to arrive, a thought that made her smile and her flight speed decrease; after all, they were in no hurry.

_It's a good thing that the cave was so close_, she told herself, before taking a quick glance back to the cave and avoiding another inquisitive look from Flare, who then did not seem to enjoy being ignored.

It did surprise her when he did not make any action to show it.

The flight was eventless and quiet. Both dragons did not seem to want to talk much, simply content to fly in the open skies at a relaxing pace, taking in the sights of Avalar without comment as they went along. It was until they got a flat rock plane in front of the mountain in sights, did the silence and tranquility break.

As they drew near to the mountain's shelf, their eyes picked up two things in front of it. They were too far away to recognise anything other than they looked like black dots. Cynder did not give it much thought and turned away to examine more plants, enjoying the peace before the sight of it and much annoyed that it had disrupted it. Flare on the other the other hand narrowed his eyes on the object, no doubt interested.

After a short minute after the sight, the red dragon let out a startled yelp, breaking Cynder tranquil state, causing her to get startled. Annoyed, the black dragoness whipped her gaze back onto Flare, eyes blazing with anger, an accusing retort forming in the back of her throat. But stopped when she saw the red dragon's eyes wide and one word formed in his open mouth.

"Them."

The black dragoness did not dare imagine who 'they' are, her mind racing and turned her gaze until it faced the mountain as well. The two who were on the shelf were still little more than dots, but there was one thing that was not recognisable a short minute ago.

Colour.

Blue and purple.

Cynder did not dare believe her eyes and instantly rubbed her eyes, thinking the very slight opportunity that it was an illusion. But when she opened her eyes again, there they were: blue and purple.

Relief spread through her very being, causing her to slow her flight speed down and drop a metre in the sky, before she was snapped back to reality and caught herself, before ascending again. Flare was by her side now, hovering beside her, a grin across his features.

"Go on," he said.

Cynder almost raced off before he finished, flapping her wings fast to gain the maximum amount of speed. Wild winds slowed down her progress significantly, but she continued to fly. What would have taken three minutes took one, at which when she had clear sight of the two dragons below, her wings felt strained. She then noticed that the two dragons had not seen her – as ridiculous as it seemed. Then an idea came to her mind, a wicked grin spreading throughout her expression.

_This would teach them not to keep their back turned to the open sky_, she thought, barely managing to hold her tongue from laughing at the thought of Spyro's startled expression. _This is going to be fun._

Slowing down her pace until she was almost hovering, gathering her energy, readying herself for her short, but completely necessary, plan. After a short moment, she suddenly dived, folding her wings and shooting her body like a missile toward her target. As she drew closer to her still unaware target, she could not suppress a short chuckle.

That was it.

As if on reflex, Spyro turned to face the direction of the noise, his body tensed, ready for a battle. Then his eyes widened and Cynder could see relief spread through his being at the sight of her. But despite this, he could not ignore that she was literally missiling towards, his mouth fell open and two words came out.

"Oh no."

Cynder slowed some of her speed with her wind element, but still barreled straight into Spyro's chest with enough force to send them both flying a metre. The two crashed in a heap of dust, the sound of rock shattering underneath them causing Cavice – who was barely a metre away from Spyro – to jump, no doubt startled.

Spyro let out a soft groan of pain after a moment as the dust settled, coating them with a thick layer of powdery rock. Cynder then got off the purple dragon's chest, using a forepaw to dust off parts of stone shards and dust that had collected on her flanks.

"That is the reason you should _never_ keep your back to the open sky," she stated with a mischievous smile.

"Next time don't teach me so…painfully," Spyro groaned as he got to his feet, although there was a spark of amusement in his eyes.

Cynder shrugged. "You would never learn if I did."

Spyro groaned another time but did not comment, looking still in shock from the sudden assault from the black dragoness.

A short time later, Cynder felt a slight tap on her shoulder and turned to see Cavice a short way away. The blue dragon looked just as startled as Spyro, although there was a hint of worry etched on his expression.

"Do you know where Flare is?" he asked. "I thought he was with you."

Cynder smiled and pointed with a wing in the direction where she came from. "There."

As she had said, Flare was flying at steady, relaxed pace, seemingly content to take his time to see his two brothers again.

"Idiot," Cavice stated, irritated. "Taking his own sweet time to see his two brothers who could have potentially been killed by a storm. Who does that?"

Cynder just smiled and turned to Spyro who had seemed to have recovered and was staring at the strange paw-print that was etched in the rock. Silently, the black dragoness walked up until she was beside the purple dragon.

"Fascinate you?" she asked.

Spyro shook his head. "More like confuse. I take it that you had the same dream."

Cynder did not answer but simply nodded her head, though she thought that the purple dragon already knew.

Spyro seemed to have seen the gesture from the side of his eye, but did not say a word and kept his gaze steadily on the paw-print. After a moment that was silent, the purple dragon faced Cynder with a smile.

"I worried about you," he stated.

Cynder smiled back and nodded. "I did the same."

Another silence settled upon the two dragons before the sound of paws hitting rock broke them out of their trance and they looked backwards to see that Flare was talking with Cavice, although it was the blue dragon that was doing most of the talking, shouting at the red dragon on how stupid he for running out just before a storm and how he could have gotten himself or Cynder killed.

Cavice did not seem like letting up anytime soon and Flare was staring blankly at his brother, although Cynder thought that was going to change soon.

The elder dragons stared at the two brothers for a few seconds, before Spyro caught the black dragoness' gaze.

"So what happened anyway?" he asked with a subtle gesture towards Flare. "Did he…"

Cynder nodded, interrupting the purple dragon and turned a gaze onto the red dragon. "He turned dark shortly before the storm started, when it was only raining and the wind was beginning to pick."

Spyro nodded and made a gesture for the black dragoness to continue.

Cynder rolled her eyes but continued. "The fight itself did not last long. I tried not to hurt him but he left me no choice," she said, her expression darkening. "I got him in the back of the head."

It was obvious Spyro tried to suppress a glance at the red dragon at that, not succeeding and ending up trying to look for the spot. After a moment, he seemed to give up and turned back to Cynder.

"So, what now?" he asked, making a small gesture towards the mountain. "All our dreams tell us to come here and here we are. Got any ideas what the voice meant?"

Cynder frowned when she realised that the purple dragon had a point, the voice did not tell them about what they do when they arrive. Previously, when she had thought about it, Cynder imagined that something would happen. Apparently, she was wrong.

_Wait a sec…_

The black dragoness whipped her gaze back to Spyro again. "Why are you asking me this, Oh Great Purple Dragon, Savior of the World, Bringer of Justice and Defeater of the Mighty Malefor, Slayer of Evil?"

Spyro chuckled and shook his head in amusement. "Cynder, you have those titles as well."

Cynder snorted with a grin. "I still think the Slayer of Evil does not need the help of the _Helper_ from Evil to solve this little puzzle."

"Well, he does now."

"Then give me your word that you would try to get that title changed to something better," Cynder dared, her smile growing. "And admit that you need me for these kinds of stuff."

Spyro stared at the black dragoness for a moment, amusement clear in his eyes. "Ok, I try to do whatever I can to change that title of yours."

"And," Cynder said expectantly.

Spyro sighed. "And I admit that I need you for these kinds of things. Happy."

Cynder smiled mockingly. "Yes, very much."

"Great, so can you now help me?" the purple dragon asked, a pleading look in his eyes.

Cynder snorted in amusement. "It's rather easy actually. It's got to have something to do with that paw print." She gestured to it with the tip of her wing.

"But what?" Spyro asked.

Cynder shrugged. "I dunno."

Spyro sighed and whispered in a barely audible voice. "Some help."

Cynder bristled with anger at that and took a bold step towards the purple dragon. "What was that!?"

Spyro took a step back, sudden fear clear across his expression. He looked like he had just seen the Terror of Skies again as he stared back at the black dragoness.

"Maybe we should place our paw over the print?" Cavice interrupted, his gaze switching between Cynder and Spyro, no doubt trying to bail the purple dragon out.

Cynder thought through the idea and quickly realised that it was a good one. She wondered how it had not crossed his mind. With another - severally depleted - angry glare at the purple dragon, she walked up to the paw print. Slowly, she raised a paw and placed it on the print.

The print flashed a bright blue. Surprised, the black dragon pulled her paw away and stared at the print which looked like normal rock again.

_What was that?_ She wondered, mind racing.

Suddenly, the print flashed blue again at the same time as a large arc of the mountain around it did. There was a low rumbling sound as flashing rock slowly moved outwards from the paw-print. To the black dragoness, it looked like the door of the temple where she first saw Ignitus, Volteer and Cyril, and the first place she woke up as a normal dragoness.

"Cynder, you're seeing this, right?" Spyro asked, his mouth open in awe.

"Yep," she replied, her tongue tripping over for words.

"Insane," Flare stated.

She heard Cavice snort behind her. "More like, out of this world."

Cynder could not believe her eyes. The interior of what seemed to be like a cave, was a chamber. If there was a word the black dragoness had to describe the size, it would be massive. The sheer size of it looked like it could hold over thirty dragons.

That was just the size.

One third of the area was filled with glimmering crystals that sparkled under a strange blue light that lit the entire chamber, covering most of the caves surface with dazzling light. The crystals looked untouched and the facets reflected clear images of other crystals and the mysterious blue light. Most were small, barely reaching up to the black dragoness' leg, but there were some that she thought were taller than the guardians. She was surprised that she was simply blinded by the sheer number of them.

But, standing several paces in front of them was a small, transportable table with dozens of stacks of books on it and looked like it was on the verge of breaking. But behind a practically large stack of books, was a pale blue dragon with blue robes and a necklace with another crystal at the end of it. His crest and horns were a blue that matched his robes. His eyes were turned downwards; towards a particular book that he was reading that seemed to float in mid-air of its on accord in front of his eyes

His eyes turned away from the book and rested upon the four dragons, his gaze calm and relaxed. Cynder quickly felt her anxiety melt under his gaze, the feeling being replaced with disbelief and a deep happiness.

The pale blue dragon smiled at them and with subtle wave a paw the book suspended to hover and slowly floated down on the desk, landing silently. "Hello young dragons, I have been waiting a long time to see all of you again," he said, his smile growing.

Her body felt numb, as if someone had used shocked all her senses away, leaving an empty shell. Tears came to her eyes and she lowered her head until she was looking at her paws. She quickly closed her eyes, too overcome with emotion to believe what she saw.

_It cannot be him_, she told herself. _It _could_ not be him. I saw him…_

Yet, when she opened her eyes, seeing that pale blue dragon once more, she did find him highly recognisable and she could only say one name.

"Ignitus."

* * *

><p><strong>Who saw that coming? x)<strong>

**It took awhile, but the story is beginning to get more interesting from here on out. I'm starting to get into the main plot a bit so you can expect more action. :) **

**Thanks for all the reviews, reviewers. I appreciate every little comment or criticism you guys give me, so thanks. ^^**

**Until next time!**


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